Posted on 06/28/2005 4:43:23 PM PDT by neverdem
"Astronomers believe comets' interiors have undergone little change since then and contain the pristine ice, gases, dust and other materials from which the rest of the solar system formed. Understanding comets is a way of understanding how the solar system was born.
"Another reason to study comets is that they, along with rocky asteroids, pose a threat of hitting the Earth and causing cataclysmic damage. Defending against such possibilities requires knowing more about these objects in hopes of deflecting or destroying dangerous ones, experts say."
See comment# 21.
Hats off to NASA!
The best I can do with either my .270 or the .30-06 is about 300 yards.
That "washing-machine" and getting it up there in space cost us 300 million dollars, by the way. And we're going to watch it explode.
I remember scientists' concern years ago with "life" contained within comets and asteroids - perhaps only bacteria, perhaps more, but to arbitrarily slam a projectile into an unknown entity wouldn't have been proper in those days. It's like a boy shooting a cat in the head to "see" what will happen." NASA's justifications are usually scripted long before costly project proposals are submitted to the wounded taxpayer. I'm surprised that a "it's for the kids" reason wasn't tested for public acceptability on this comet game.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.