Blowing a crater in a comet...
Discussion
gets Nasa sued
www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200505/s1362134.htm said:
A Russian court has ruled that an astrologer can proceed with a lawsuit against the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for its plans to bombard a comet.
The astrologer claims the destruction of the comet would "disrupt the natural balance of the universe."
Marina Bai's case was thrown out of a lower court because Russia has no jurisdiction over NASA, but the ruling was overturned when her lawyer, Alexandra Molokhova, was able to show that the agency's office in the US Embassy in Moscow does fall under Russian jurisdiction.
Ms Bai seeks a ruling that will restrict NASA in its plans to annihilate a section of the Tempel 1 comet, in a project that has been dubbed Deep Impact, as well as punitive damages of $US300 million.
"My client believes that the NASA project infringes upon her spiritual and life values as well as the natural life of the cosmos and would disrupt the natural balance of forces in the universe," her lawyer said.
The lawyer says Tempel 1 has sentimental value to Ms Bai because her grandparents met when her grandfather pointed the comet out to his future wife.
In a $US279 million project, NASA in January launched the Deep Impact spacecraft.
It will travel to the comet and release an impactor - a 370-kilogram self-guided mass - on July 4, which is expected to create a crater that could be as large as a football stadium.
Scientists believe that the exposed material from the resulting crater will yield clues to the formation of the solar system and provide important information on altering the course of comets or asteroids on a collision course with earth.
Effects of the collision will be visible from earth with an amateur telescope.
I have to admit that when I first heard about that plan on TV I thought it was a bit arrogant of NASA to decide to do that. I mean, here we are finally developing something like a conscience about kicking the crap out of Mother Earth, and at the same time we decide to investigate comets by smashing them to pieces. I didn't seem right to me either.
Just as long as they don't start that sort of behaviour on the stretch of moon that I legally own!
Just as long as they don't start that sort of behaviour on the stretch of moon that I legally own!
victormeldrew said:
I have to admit that when I first heard about that plan on TV I thought it was a bit arrogant of NASA to decide to do that. I mean, here we are finally developing something like a conscience about kicking the crap out of Mother Earth, and at the same time we decide to investigate comets by smashing them to pieces. I didn't seem right to me either.
Just as long as they don't start that sort of behaviour on the stretch of moon that I legally own!
I'm not so sure, if one of these things was on a collision course with Earth, which will happen at some time, scientists will need every bit of knowledge about their make up.
A comet is, in essence, a space iceberg. Comets also have a fairly short life span, once they start having a short period (i.e. take less than 100 years to orbit the sun - most take tens of thousands of years to orbit the sun).
What the NASA probe is going to do is fire a solid metal slug at the comet. When the slug strikes the surface of the comet, it will vapourise on impact and blow a fairly small crater into the outer layer of the comet itself. The vapour cloud thrown up will be analysed by sensors in the probe which will help is find out the actual material from which the comet is made. It is highly unlikely that the comet will even "notice" that something has hit it.
As for the Russian court ruling - I'm sure a Russian court has absolutely no jurisdiction outside Russia (let alone outer space) and I wonder would they have reached the same decision if the Russian Space Agency were conducting this experiment.
What the NASA probe is going to do is fire a solid metal slug at the comet. When the slug strikes the surface of the comet, it will vapourise on impact and blow a fairly small crater into the outer layer of the comet itself. The vapour cloud thrown up will be analysed by sensors in the probe which will help is find out the actual material from which the comet is made. It is highly unlikely that the comet will even "notice" that something has hit it.
As for the Russian court ruling - I'm sure a Russian court has absolutely no jurisdiction outside Russia (let alone outer space) and I wonder would they have reached the same decision if the Russian Space Agency were conducting this experiment.
OK, fair do's... I feel that my quality of life has been affected by the Chernobyl event: can I sue the Russian nuclear agencies for incompetence?
Or how about my social conscience, concerned that millions of people died under Stalin. Can I sue Russia for not bumping him off?
Phooking ridiculous.
Or how about my social conscience, concerned that millions of people died under Stalin. Can I sue Russia for not bumping him off?
Phooking ridiculous.
Comets don't have metal cores. They are virtually all frozen carbon dioxide with small amounts of rubble mixed in. At least, all the measurements so far seem to indicate that this is the case. This experiment should go some ways to confirming if this model for the chemical constituents of a comet is correct.
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