Pasadena, Calif. – NASA’s comet-busting spacecraft Deep Impact dropped its 820-pound copper “bullet” into the path of a speeding comet this morning as planned, setting the stage for a high-speed collision with a comet this evening.
“First look at data indicates things couldn’t have gone better,” reported Monte Henderson, deputy project manager for Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., the Boulder company that built Deep Impact.
No human could survive the 23,000-mph crash NASA has planned for 11:52 p.m. MDT today, nor could even the greatest video-game prodigy handle a joystick fast enough to guide the craft.
Machines can.
While NASA’s human space program remains grounded since the Columbia shuttle disaster in February 2003, the agency’s robotic craft have continued probing the universe and capturing headlines.
Deep Impact is eighth in NASA’s string of 10 Discovery-class missions.
These “cheap” robotic craft explore the inner solar system, cost less than $400 million each and keep delivering tantalizing bits of information about this corner of the universe.
By comparison, a manned mission to the moon could cost more than $60 billion, according to one NASA estimate.
Discovery-class missions cost less because they’re smaller, riskier ventures, often testing new technologies and new ideas.
“Robots can much more cheaply go farther and do things you just wouldn’t want humans to do – like crash into a comet,” said Andy Dantzler, director of NASA’s solar system division.
Discovery missions are also among NASA’s most creative because scientists propose them, said Fran Bagenal, a space scientist at the University of Colorado.
“The idea of smashing a lump of copper into a comet is not something that a NASA committee would come up with,” Bagenal said. “And it’s a great idea.”
Saturday afternoon, Ball’s Henderson said he was neither relaxed nor rested.
“Anxious is the word I’d use. We’re not tense, just anxious,” Henderson said. “We’re just waiting to see what anomalies come up. They absolutely will – missions like this never go exactly as planned because there’s so much nature involved that we can’t control.”
The first good news came just after midnight, as the spacecraft sent back information that it had separated from its bullet.
About 15 minutes later, engineers confirmed that the main craft had powered itself away from the impact site, to a good spot for taking pictures.
Cheers erupted in the mission control room at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
“Rock and roll,” said David Beachley, media manager for Ball Aerospace.
Scientists hope the shower of debris from the pristine inside of the comet will help them understand the solar system’s birth 4.5 billion years ago.
Of NASA’s 10 Discovery missions, three have finished successfully: The Mars Pathfinder rover shot pictures of rocks smoothed by water that once washed across the planet; Lunar Prospector found ice at the moon’s poles; and NEAR, a bus-size spacecraft, landed on a rocky asteroid.
Along with Deep Impact, two are still in space – Stardust, which is collecting comet dust, and Messenger, a mission to Mercury.
Awaiting launch are a planet-finding space telescope and a mission to two giant asteroids.
One Discovery mission, Contour, disappeared on its way to two comets, probably because a rocket firing overheated the craft, making it fall apart.
Another craft, Genesis, built by Lockheed Martin Corp. in Jefferson County, crashed into the Utah desert in September, smashing the scientific cargo on board.
Scientists salvaged some of the particles of solar wind Genesis collected, a potential key to understanding the solar system’s birth.
Every space scientist knows that a mission like Genesis or Deep Impact runs the risk of failure.
“This is about exploring the unknown,” said Ball’s Henderson.
“There’s extreme bang for the buck in these types of missions.”
Staff writer Katy Human can be reached at 303-820-1910.
