From earlier posts... Re: Deep Impact >>NASA's first mission to purposely destroy a spacecraft >>>>They seem to have forgotten the Ranger program The truth is, the Deep Impact spacecraft will not be destroyed. The spacecraft carries with it a 370 kg copper-tipped projectile that will be released and slammed into Comet Tempel 1. At the moment of projectile impact the spacecraft will be nearly 8,700 km from the comet, observing, capturing images, analyzing. As the spacecraft passes by the comet, about 14 minutes after projectile impact, it will have oriented itself so its hardened shield will protect it from any debris coming from the comet (either natural or caused by the impact). After fly-by, its high-res camera and other onboard instruments will continue to view the comet from its backside. If the spacecraft stays healthy it may be targeted to other comets to perform other, sans-projectile, missions. Sorry, no Ranger program here. Don't listen to everything you hear in the news :) Ralph McConahy 38.3305N, 75.6967W, 8m MSL ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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