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Sign Up to Make Your Name on a Comet
posted: 10:00 am ET
09 May 2003
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NASA has launched a campaign to send hundreds of thousands of names to comet Tempel 1 on board the agency's Deep Impact spacecraft NASA has launched a campaign to send hundreds of thousands of names to comet Tempel 1 on board the agency's Deep Impact spacecraft. Deep Impact is the first deep-space mission designed to really reach out and touch a comet. Mission scientists are confident an impact on a comet's nucleus will answer basic questions about the nature and composition of these celestial wanderers. "This is an opportunity to become part of an extraordinary space mission," said Dr. Don Yeomans, an astronomer at JPL and a member of Deep Impact's science team. "When the craft is launched in December 2004, yours and the names of your loved-ones can hitch along for the ride and be part of what may be the best space fireworks show in history." The spacecraft is scheduled to rendezvous with the comet on July 4, 2005. Deep Impact's larger flyby spacecraft will carry a smaller impactor spacecraft to Tempel 1 for release into the comet's path for a planned collision. The flyby spacecraft will take pictures as the 816-pound (370-kilogram) copper-tipped impactor plunges into Tempel 1 at about (22,990 miles) (37,000 kilometers) per hour. The impactor is expected to make a spectacular, football field-sized crater, seven to 15 stories deep, in the speeding comet. Carried aboard the impactor will be a standard mini-CD containing the names of comet, space and other enthusiasts from around the world. "This campaign will allow people from around the world to become directly involved with Deep Impact and through that get them thinking about the scientific reasons for the mission," said University of Maryland astronomy professor Dr. Michael A'Hearn, Deep Impact's principal investigator. "We particularly hope to capture the interest of young students, as they will become the explorers of the next generation." People may submit their names for this historic one-way mission by visiting NASA's Deep Impact Web site, now through February 2004, at http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/
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