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Deep Impact Aims To Find Out What's Inside a Comet
By Gregory R. Clark
Staff Writer
posted: 12:24 pm ET
08 July 1999
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A big explosion in space is planned for Independence Day in 2005 - one that is sure to be as good for the spectacle as it is for science that is driving itA big explosion in space is planned for Independence Day in 2005 one that promises to be as good for the spectacle as it is for science driving it. NASA recently announced approval of a mission to smash a 1,100-pound copper cylinder into an icy comet and film the resulting impact. The mission, called Deep Impact will send a spacecraft to rendezvous with Comet P/Tempel 1 and shoot a half-ton projectile at the heart of the comet at 10km/sec (about 6 miles/sec). A camera and spectrometer will observe the impact to analyze the composition of the ejected debris and the exposed icy interior. If the target is similar in composition to Comet Halley, project scientists expect the impact to smash a hole the size of a football field and seven stories deep into the core of ice and dust. But, depending on the composition, the result could range from putting a hole all the way through it to not quite bouncing off, said Lucy McFadden, a University of Maryland astronomer and member of the missions science team. Deep Impact may seem more like a way for Earthlings to see a really cool crash than hard science. But, according to NASA officials, the experiment is the cheapest and most efficient way to discover what comets are made of, how they were formed and, by extension, to find clues about the formation of the early solar system. Budgeted at $240 million, Deep Impact is the most recent in the series of Discovery missions designed to do low-cost space science at a fraction of the cost of traditional multi-billion dollar projects common in the first two decades of the U.S. space program.
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