Deep Impact, post impact video

7-4-2005

[hophead]

NASA's film of the impact are incredible. One from the impactor and one from the fly-by craft. Look here: http://www.nasa.gov/mov/121530main_its_approach_x4.mov http://www.nasa.gov/mov/121527main_MRI_impact.mov

Watch the one from the impactor. Early in the film, the camera seems to aquire a target, as it was probably supposed to do by design. Keep watching frame by frame. You will see two large craters come into clear view at the center section of the frame. As it gets closer, it seems to target a spot just below the upper crater. Just south south west of the craters looks like a frozen lake. It is very much smoother than anything around. The target spot looks like a mound of ice and dust. The impactor draws a good bead on this feature. At one point its track varies from target but then re-aquires its target. This mound is about 1/13th the diameter of the crater above it. My question is: What are the dimensions of the mound in target and what is the diameter of the upper large crater above target. It seems to me to be pretty damn amazing to hit this object from millions of miles away goimg about 28,000 miles per hour. I sent a letter to NASA to get this info. If anyone else has it please send it in. I am also excepting guesses of the size of thet target. My guess is in the 500-2000 foot high range.

[Jet Jaguar]

http://www.nasa.gov/mov/121530main_its_approach_x4.mov http://www.nasa.gov/mov/121527main_MRI_impact.mov

[Spktyr]

Note - this is the same tech that would be used in the "Rods From God" project. A self-contained, self-guiding impactor or KKV.

[Phocion]

Great videos, thanks for the links.

[SIDENET]

Way cool. Thanks for the post!

[FormerACLUmember]

Awesome.

[fso301]

If we can hit an asteroid, we can hit an incoming missle

[SunTzuWu]

The diameter of the crater in the last few images was given as 1500 meters.

[ko_kyi]

Sure, if it is a few miles wide, we have months to plan the flight, and constantly measure and tweak the trajectory for a couple more months.

Other than the speed, I don't see a whole lot of similarity between the two events.

/not a scientist
//didn't stay at a Holiday Inn Express

[LibFreeOrDie]

Too bad CBS couldn't get Dan Rather out there to do a remote...

[marblehead17]

ping

[hophead]

Thanks for the info.
That makes the crater about 4921 feet in diameter. I kind of scaled the object as 1/13th the diameter of the crater. That would make the target about 378 feet left to right. Even if you give or take 100 feet, or 1000 feet even, to hit that is just freakin amazing. Comet Tempel 1 was 83 million miles from Earth when the "impactor" hit today. Impact Velocity was 23,000 mph.
These flight controllers, engineers and scientists who made this possible are an amazing group of people. They are the seldom recognized role models of our society. The NEA should set aside time for this in daily instruction of our school children.
My deepest congratulations to all those responsible for this unbelievable feat of science.

[Oldexpat]

This is the technology,,along with a penetrator nuc warhead that could be used to destroy a astroid on collision course with the earth. They could target a specific spot on the rock to penetrate and either shift to orbit or reduce it to smaller pieces..

[hophead]

Did anyone but the people responsible for this really comprehend the technological achievements that could have and did happen here? I think the success here rivals the first manned landing on the Moon.

[fat city]

This is the kind of project- like the Mars Rovers- that stimulates the public and gives a high return in information for the small budget- compared to the bloated space shuttle program.

This is what we want to see-- blowing holes in stuff with spaceships. Happy Fourth!

[newzjunkey]

Certainly nearly true. It's a bit tougher here due to atmospheric concerns and the tiny window with which to prepare to hit the incoming missile. There's probably a technological overlap which can benefit an anti-missile system.

Still in all, this was a brilliant feat by the folks at JPL hitting something cosmically tiny tens of thousands of miles away at tens of thousands of miles per hour.

[Strategerist]

This is the technology,,along with a penetrator nuc warhead that could be used to destroy a astroid on collision course with the earth. They could target a specific spot on the rock to penetrate and either shift to orbit or reduce it to smaller pieces..

If an asteroid or comet is ever heading towards earth. nuclear weapons are very unlikely to play a role in "diverting" or "destroying" it (the second is really not possible and smaller pieces in many cases doesn't make things better) contrary to popular belief.

[RightWhale]

The diameter of the crater in the last few images was given as 1500 meters.

Sounds bigger than what was expected. Maybe the body is softer than it looked.

[Strategerist]

Eh, I don't think there's much tech overlap at all. And it wasn't really hit; it was something miles wide that we had studied the orbit of for decades, and which was stable in that orbit, that we left something IN FRONT OF.

ABM defense is a problem that is infinitely more difficult, particularly if you have humans on the other side actively attempting to spoof it (decoys, etc.)

[narses]

http://www.nasa.gov/mov/121530main_its_approach_x4.mov http://www.nasa.gov/mov/121527main_MRI_impact.mov