Be careful when you go blowing dents in celestial bodies.

[Walden]

MOSCOW (AP) - NASA's mission that sent a space probe smashing into a comet raised more than cosmic dust — it also brought a lawsuit from a Russian astrologer.

Marina Bai has sued the U.S. space agency, claiming the Deep Impact probe that punched a crater into the comet Tempel 1 late Sunday "ruins the natural balance of forces in the universe," the newspaper Izvestia reported Tuesday. A Moscow court has postponed hearings on the case until late July, the paper said.

Scientists say the crash did not significantly alter the comet's orbit around the sun and said the experiment does not pose any danger to Earth.

The probe's comet crash sent up a cloud of debris that scientists hope to examine to learn how the solar system was formed.

Bai is seeking damages totaling $300 million — the approximate equivalent of the mission's cost — for her "moral sufferings," Izvestia said, citing her lawyer Alexander Molokhov. She earlier told the paper that the experiment would "deform her horoscope."

NASA representatives in Russia could not be reached for comment on the case.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050705/ap_ ... comet_case

[SteveShaw]

I may be going wacky in my advancing years, but am I alone around here in thinking that this wasn't a good thing to do? Surely we have enough lumps of meteorite to analyse here on earth without having to carry out mega-expensive and destructive experiments in the peace of outer space?

Steve

[djm]

She doesn't stand a chance. Astrology totally ignores comets, and asteroids are unknown to it. Even if the courts acknowledge astrology as valid (not likely) she can quickly be shot down by fellow astrologers.

djm

[The Weekenders]

I don't think it's smart to alter trajectories of comets (if it did), but I am not an astonomer so what do I know? i keep thinking of them knocking it into a collision course with us, then we'll have to send Bruce Willis up there to save us all...

But I suppose this could be an experiment to help us understand how to save us from the same thing...

[anniemcu]

I may be going wacky in my advancing years, but am I alone around here in thinking that this wasn't a good thing to do? Surely we have enough lumps of meteorite to analyse here on earth without having to carry out mega-expensive and destructive experiments in the peace of outer space?

Steve

I'm with you.

And I think the dame's suit will fall flat... too bad it is so silly - I tend to agree that we needn't be be smashing marbles in a game we don't fully understand.

[emmline]

...then we'll have to send Bruce Willis up there to save us all...

In light of recent thread chatter, we might consider sending Tom Cruise up to do some preemptive work. Why wait for disaster?

[The Weekenders]

Yeah, Emm, it might even eliminate some greenhouse gases....

[Jeff Stallard]

I may be going wacky in my advancing years, but am I alone around here in thinking that this wasn't a good thing to do? Surely we have enough lumps of meteorite to analyse here on earth without having to carry out mega-expensive and destructive experiments in the peace of outer space?

Steve

Comets are ice and dust, whereas meteors and asteroids are rock. So no, we didn't have anything here to analyze.

The mission cost $330 million, and NASA's budget is ~$14 billion. This mission represents 2.5% of their budget.

They'd be stupid if they didn't use this data to better understand ways of diverting planet-killing objects. It wouldn't surprise me if the stated objective was just a red herring. Not that I blame them; escaping planetary extinction is extremely important (yes, the odds are almost trivial), and telling us that's what they were doing would be a bad idea because people would start to worry about what's coming.

[Wombat]

Surely, you don't think Jupiter aligns with Mars all by itself do you? It takes a successful musical and several space probes to make stuff like that happen.

[Brian Lee]

I may be going wacky in my advancing years, but am I alone around here in thinking that this wasn't a good thing to do? Surely we have enough lumps of meteorite to analyse here on earth without having to carry out mega-expensive and destructive experiments in the peace of outer space?

Steve

Steve,

Having spent many years myself in all things atronomy, cosmology, and planetary science related, let me see if I can help to put some of your fears to rest.

First of all, as you well know, the earth is a dynamic place. there is NOTHING here and I mean NOTHING that hasn't been changed, eroded, compressed, dissolved charred etc. fairly recently or to at least some degree. All those meteorites we collect? Well, there's that pesky atmosphere they all have to come screaming through, and then there's the impact etc. Makes for a tough study of their pristine state as they might be found in space.

Also, the object under study here was a comet and not a meteor at all. Comets are fundamentally different from meteors in composition and size. The impact of an 800 pound probe to kick up a bit of dust and ice vapor for study from a piece of comet the size of Tempel 1 is actually quite insignificant. There is no danger to the earth from such a manuver - period.

As for expense...well, I'd rather see money spent blowing craters in comets rather than bomb craters in the middle east. The cost of the war in iraq over the last few years could have sent man back to the Moon several times over - or even to Mars. And as to the 'peace of space'...uh, it's not nearly as serene and quiet as many seem to think. Comets, meteors and sometimes even other planets are crashing into each other millions of times a day across the universe. Cosmic rays melt and irradiate vast areas of space. New planets just on the brink of formation are routinely vaporized by the intense glow from a new star being born light years away. And of course, there are the super novae, gamma ray bursters and black holes to contend with. Space it would seem is anything but peaceful!

All the best!

[brewerpaul]

I may be going wacky in my advancing years, but am I alone around here in thinking that this wasn't a good thing to do? Surely we have enough lumps of meteorite to analyse here on earth without having to carry out mega-expensive and destructive experiments in the peace of outer space?
Steve

This is totally different. A meteorite is either stone or metal (iron, nickel)-- comets are often described as "dirty snowballs". They're mostly ice with a coating of dust/rock/etc. It's specifically because we DON'T have lumps of them here on earth that NASA sent up this probe. It is believed that comets date from the very early days of our solar system and that studying them would give important information as to how our system formed.

This comet is something like 84 million miles away from us, so it's highly unlikely that this experiment poses us any danger. The comet is described as half the size of Manhattan, and the "impactor" was about the size of a 50 gal oil drum and weighed about 800 lb. It was non-explosive. The affect of this relatively tiny object on this huge chunk of ice is negligible other than creating a crater, which the comet already has many of.

Discovery and investigation is what we do. It's one of the things that sets us apart from the rest of the animals.

[Jeff Stallard]

And as to the 'peace of space'...uh, it's not nearly as serene and quiet as many seem to think.

Yeah, I was amazed to find out that at the center of our very own beloved Milky Way galaxy is a GIGANTIC black hole. 'Peaceful' is not the word that comes to mind.

[Nanohedron]

Bai is seeking damages totaling $300 million — the approximate equivalent of the mission's cost — for her "moral sufferings," Izvestia said, citing her lawyer Alexander Molokhov. She earlier told the paper that the experiment would "deform her horoscope."

My morals have been suffering for decades and I haven't raised a penny for it. She's obviously a smart cookie.

As for deformed horosopes: it must be a Russian thing.

[SteveShaw]

I don't know why several posters think I'm scared. That wasn't the point I made at all, and I'm not. So spending $300m to fire a lump of copper into a comet to kick up dust is going to give us $300m-worth of info, huh? Crude is what I call it.

Steve

[izzarina]

...then we'll have to send Bruce Willis up there to save us all...

In light of recent thread chatter, we might consider sending Tom Cruise up to do some preemptive work. Why wait for disaster?

I'll bet he knows all about these things, he being the thinking, knowledgeable man he is. I say we look into the possibility. I'm sure he has some kind of a space suit laying around from a movie or something that would fit him still. I know I'd sleep more soundly knowing he was on the case