Hospitals & Asylums
International Court of Just-Ice
International Meteor Organization
Comet A’Hearn
HA-12-1-05
Orbital Perihelion Perihelion Semi-Major Orbital Orbital AbsoluteNumber & Name Period Date Distance Axis Eccentricity Inclination Magnitude 9P Tempel 1 5.51 yrs. 2005-07-07 1.500 AU 3.12 AU 0.519 10.5 deg. 12.0
MISSION: Deep Impact
LAUNCH VEHICLE: Delta II 7925
LAUNCH PAD: Pad 17-B Cape Canaveral Air Force Station
LAUNCH DATE: Jan. 12, 2005
LAUNCH WINDOW: 1:08:20 p.m. and 1:48:04 p.m. EST instantaneous
1. Deep Impact
rocketed away at the designated moment on a six-month, 268 million-mile journey
to Comet Tempel 1. Since late 2002, Tempel 1 has been slowly making its way back towards
the sun. Little is known about Comet Tempel 1, other than that it is an icy, rocky body about
nine miles long and three miles wide. During
the late summer and fall of 2004, Tempel 1 was
on the other side of the sun from the earth and therefore out of view. As the
earth continues around in its orbit, Tempel 1
came back into view so that in December, several amateur astronomers were able
to get images of the very dim comet. Deep
Impact project members hope that many amateurs will particpate
in its observing programs. The Small Telescope Science Program (STSP) is geared toward
technically proficient observers who want to take scientific data. For more
casual observers there is the Amateur Observers' Program. Both will have galleries so be
sure to visit often throughout the spring and summer of 2005 to check out the
latest images of Tempel 1. The
launch of the Deep Impact spacecraft has been officially rescheduled on the
Eastern Range for Jan. 12 from 2:39:42 p.m. (EST) on 30 December 2004 with two
instantaneous launch opportunities at 1:08:20 p.m. and 1:48:04 p.m. EST. On 1 January 2005 a news release stated that
the Deep Impact Mission intends to
collide with Comet P/Tempel 1 on US Independence Day
4-7-05 and expects to cause significant, but superficial, damage to the comet
without significantly altering the comet’s
orbit or creating any threat of collision with planet Earth. Comet Tempel 1 was
discovered in 1867 by Ernst Tempel. The comet has
made many passages through the inner solar system orbiting the Sun every 5.5
years. This makes Tempel 1 a good target to study evo-lutionary change in the mantle, or upper crust. Comets
are visible for two reasons. First, dust driven from a comet's nucleus reflects
sunlight as it travels through space. Second, certain gases in the comet's
coma, stimulated by the Sun, give off light like a fluorescent bulb. Over time,
a comet may become less active or even dormant. Scientists are eager to learn
whether comets exhaust their supply of gas and dust to space or seal it into
their interiors. They would also like to learn about the structure of a comet's
inte-rior and how it is different from its surface.
The controlled cratering experiment of this mission provides answers to these
questions. Under Art. 7 of the Agreement
Governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies
(1979) more care must be given so as not to disrupt the existing environment and a
more environmentally friendly landing procedure should be developed in the
future pursuant to
Art. 8 of the Agreement and the spirit of the Agreement on the
Rescue of Astronauts and the Return of Objects Launched into Outer Space
(1968) to uphold the Space
Millennium: Vienna Declaration on Space and Human Development (1999)
ratified by the Third United Nations Conference on
the Exploration and Peaceful Uses of Outer Space in Vienna.
2. The International Court of Just-Ice is requested by Hospitals & Asylums (HA) to pass an advisory opinion in behalf of the International Meteor Organization under Art. 107 of the Rules of the Court and Art. 36 of the Statute of the Court to ensure that the International Meteor Organization IMO and American Meteor Society AMS are registered through diplomatic channels as claimants for NASA pursuant to Art. 7 of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies (1967) that states ‘every state is internationally responsible for any damage caused by objects launched by that nation into outer space’ and furthermore that these organizations are properly consulted in future experiments regarding comets and meteors with consideration for reciprocity by means of advance notice under Art. 12 of the Treaty. Evidence appears to be insufficient to justify further delay of the launch date rescheduled for 12 January 2005 as damage is incidental to landing a pod on a Comet moving 50,000 km/hr and damage is projected to be limited to a crater the size of a football stadium. The Convention on International Liability for Damage Caused by Space Objects (1972) is immediately applicable and must be taken into consideration that, notwithstanding the precautionary measures taken by States and international intergovernmental organizations involved in the launching of space objects, damage may on occasion be caused by such objects. Under Art. 1(a) The term "damage" includes property of international intergovernmental organizations and is construed in this case to include intellectual property rights of AMS and the IMO to Comets as they are the source of meteors. Under Art. 12 of the Convention compensation liable for damages shall be determined in accordance with international law and the principles of justice and equity, to restore the international organization to the condition which would have existed if the damage had not occurred. The recommended settlement amount is $3.3 million, 1% of the cost of the Deep Impact Mission, for damages to Comet P/Tempel 1. An advance waiver of $1 million is recommended under 14CFR Sec. 1245.104 for NASA to facilitate the exchange of scientific commentary before the 12 January launch. The rest of the money would be forthcoming when the satellite begins transmitting data requiring dissemination by the incorporated scientists of the Deep Impact Mission, AMS and IMO. Any surplus funds would be used to administrate compensation from the AMS Treasury for outstanding literary works on comets and meteors and $1 per meteor for amateur observers using a visual meteor observation form as set forth in Chapter 11 of Hospitals & Asylums.
3. The Deep Impact mission is a
partnership among the University of Maryland (UMD),
the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and
Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp (BATC). Deep Impact is a NASA Discovery
mission, eighth in a series of low-cost, highly focused space science
investigations. The
entire team consists of more than 250 scientists, engineers, managers, and educators.
Deep Impact is a NASA Discovery Mission, eighth in a series of low-cost, highly
focused space science investigations. Deep Impact offers an extensive outreach
program in partnership with other comet and asteroid missions and institutions
to benefit the public, educational and scientific communities. On 7 July 1999 NASA announced that Deep Impact would be
launched in January 2004 toward an explosive July 4, 2005, encounter with P/Tempel 1. Launch was
originally scheduled at 2:39:42 p.m. (EST) on 30 December 2004 however the
mission was delayed to allow more time for evaluation of mission software. On 22 December 2004 the launch was
rescheduled to 12 January 2005. The mission is designed for a six-month,
one-way, 431 million kilometer (268 million mile) voyage. Deep Impact will
deploy a probe that essentially will be "run over" by the nucleus of
comet Tempel 1 at approximately 37,000 kph (23,000 mph). It
will use a copper projectile because that material can be identified easily
within the spectral observations of the material blasted off the comet by the
impact, which will occur at an approximate speed of 22,300 mph (10 kilometers
per second.) The
spacecraft will actually consist of two craft that will separate when the comet
is reached. The first craft is an instrument platform that will fly slowly by
the comet and record data and images of the impact, crater formation, and comet
interior. The second craft is the "impactor," which upon reaching Tempel 1 will separate from the flyby craft and be
propelled at 10 kilometers per second into a target site on the sunlit side of
the comet. The kinetic energy of the 500 kilogram copper impactor is expected
to create a large (120 meters diameter), deep (25 meters) crater and vaporize
the impactor in the process. Because the impact will be spectacular and observable
from Earth, the mission should be of great interest to the public and will
provide a tremendous opportunity for students and others to learn more about
comets, the formation of the solar system and the role of comets in the history
of Earth," One of the most spectacular events in the sky is a comet's
flight. However, what is known about the composition of comets has been limited
to studying materials that are not pristine because they have been processed by
solar heat and radiation, which alters their original state. Deep Impact will
study the interior of a comet, which astronomers believe contains material
unchanged since the formation of the solar system.
"The mission
promises to greatly further our understanding of the composition of comets and
of the materials and processes that led to the formation of the planets and
other bodies in our solar system," said Principal Investigator Dr. Michael A'Hearn.
"Learning more about the composition of comets also should help us better
understand the past history and future risks of comet impacts with the
Earth."
Deep Impact’s telescopes aboard the Flyby spacecraft will witness
the impact and return data to Earth regarding the composition of the comet
based on the ejecta created from the collision. The collision with the Impactor
spacecraft will form a crater in the comet, about the size of a football
stadium, and as deep as 14-stories. The collision is expected to occur on July
4, 2005. The Deep
Impact spacecraft is designed to launch a copper projectile into the surface of
comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, when the comet is
133.6 million kilometers (83 million miles) from Earth. the
1-by-1 meter projectile (39-by-39 inches) will create a crater that could be as
large as a football field. Deep Impact's "flyby" spacecraft will
collect pictures and data of the event. It will send the data back to Earth
through the antennas of the Deep Space Network. Professional and amateur
astronomers on Earth will also be able to observe the material flying from the
comet's newly formed crater, adding to the data and images collected by the
Deep Impact spacecraft and other telescopes. Tempel 1
poses no threat to Earth in the foreseeable future.
4. On
July 4, 2005, the Deep Impact spacecraft arrives at Comet Tempel
1 to impact it with a 370-kg (~820-lbs) mass. On impact, a crater is produced
expected to range in size from that of a house to that of a football stadium,
and two to fourteen stories deep. Ice and dust debris is ejected from the
crater revealing fresh material beneath. Sunlight reflecting off the ejected
material provides a dramatic brightening that fades slowly as the debris
dissipates into space or falls back onto the comet. Images from cameras and a
spectrometer are sent to Earth covering the approach, the impact and its
aftermath. The effects of the collision with the comet will also be observable
from certain locations on Earth and in some cases with smaller telescopes. The
data is analyzed and combined with that of other NASA and international comet
missions. Results from these missions will lead to a better understanding of
both the solar system's formation and implications of comets colliding with
Earth.
5. The
Deep Impact mission lasts six years from start to finish. Planning and design
for the mission took place from November 1999 through May 2001. The mission
team is proceeding with the building and testing of the two-part spacecraft.
The larger "flyby" spacecraft carries a smaller "impactor"
spacecraft to Tempel 1 and releases it into the
comet's path for a planned collision. In
January 2005, a Delta II rocket launches the combined Deep Impact spacecraft
which leaves Earth's orbit and is directed toward the comet. The combined
spacecraft approaches Tempel 1 and collects images of
the comet before the impact. In early July 2005, 24 hours before impact, the
flyby spacecraft points high-precision tracking
telescopes at the comet and releases the impactor on a course to hit the
comet's sunlit side.
a. The
impactor is a battery-powered spacecraft that operates independently of the
flyby spacecraft for just one day. It is called a "smart" impactor
because, after its release, it takes over its own navigation and maneuvers into
the path of the comet. A camera on the impactor captures and relays images of the
comet's nucleus just seconds before collision. The impact is not forceful
enough to make an appreciable change in the comet's orbital path around the
Sun.
b. After
release of the impactor, the flyby spacecraft maneuvers to a new path that, at
closest approach passes 500 km (300 miles) from the comet. The flyby spacecraft
observes and records data about the impact, the ejected material blasted from
the crater, and the structure and composition of the crater's interior. After
its shields protect it from the comet's dust tail passing overhead, the flyby
spacecraft turns to look at the comet again. The flyby spacecraft takes
additional data from the other side of the nucleus and observes changes in the
comet's activity. While the flyby spacecraft and impactor do their jobs, pro-fessional and amateur astronomers at large and small
telescopes on Earth observe the impact and its aftermath, and results are
broadcast over the Internet.
6. The
flyby spacecraft carries a set of instruments and the smart impactor. Two
instruments on the flyby spacecraft observe the impact, crater and debris with
optical imaging and infrared spectral mapping. The flyby spacecraft uses an
X-band radio antenna (transmission at about eight gigahertz) to communicate to
Earth as it also listens to the impactor on a different frequency. For most of
the mission, the flyby spacecraft communicates through the 34-meter antennae of
NASA's Deep Space Network. During the short period of encounter and impact,
when there is an increase in volume of data, overlapping antennas around the
world are used. Primary data is transmitted immediately and other data is
transmitted over the following week. The impactor spacecraft is composed mainly
of copper, which is not expected to appear in data from a comet's composition.
For its short period of operation, the impactor uses simpler versions of the
flyby spacecraft's hardware and software - and fewer backup systems.
7. On Jan. 1 Marcia Dunn of the Associated
Press wrote, “NASA Can't Wait to Smash Comet-Busting Spacecraft” CAPE
CANAVERAL, Fla. (Jan. 1) - The big, grown-up boys on the NASA team can hardly
wait. Next Fourth of July, they get to bust up a comet, Hollywood-style. Blow things up? I'm there. Yeah, I don't have any issue
with that," says Richard Grammier, manager of
the project for Jet Propulsion Laboratory. (And, oh yeah, he used to work with
explosives in the military.) The spacecraft is called Deep Impact just like the
1998 movie about a comet headed straight for Earth. NASA's goal is to blast a
crater into Comet Tempel 1 and analyze the ice, dust
and other primordial stuff hurled out of the pit. Mission planners say the energy produced will
be like 4.5 tons of TNT going off - producing a fireworks display for the
world's observatories.
8. Scientists know little about comets and even less about their nuclei, or cores. They believe that penetrating the interior for observations by space and ground telescopes is the next best thing to actually landing, scooping up samples and delivering them to Earth.
"A sample return
would be the ultimate, but this is one exciting mission because for the first
time we're actually reaching out and we're going to create our own
crater," says Donald Yeomans, a senior research
scientist at JPL in California - and an adviser on the movie.
"We'll understand
how the comet is put together, its density, its porosity, whether it has a
surface crust and underlying ices, whether it's layered ice, whether it's a
wimpy comet or whether it's a rock-hard ice ball. All of these things will
become apparent after we smack it."
9. Astronomers are
counting on Deep Impact to live up to its Hollywood name on July 4, six months
after its mid-January launch. This is
one spacecraft NASA wants to smash and trash.
"It would be like
it's standing in the middle of the road and this huge semi coming down at it at
23,000 mph, you know, just bam!" Grammier says.
10. If all goes well,
Deep Impact will be the first spacecraft to touch the surface of a comet.
NASA's Stardust spacecraft - on its way back to Earth with dust from Comet Wild
2 - flew through the coma, or dusty gas cloud. Deep Impact will have traveled
268 million miles from the time it is launched aboard an unmanned rocket until
it intersects with Comet Tempel 1 just beyond the
orbit of Mars, at a point more than 80 million miles from Earth. Liftoff is targeted for Jan. 12, two weeks
late because of software and rocket problems. NASA has until Jan. 28 to launch
Deep Impact. After that, Tempel 1 will be beyond
rocket reach and scientists will have to pick another comet and swallow a
lengthy delay. That's what happened to
the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft, which will attempt a controlled
landing on a comet, but not until 2014.
Deep Impact, by contrast, will provide "instant
gratification," says Grammier. The entire $330
million mission should be wrapped up a month after impact. Comet Tempel 1 is
ideal from a scientific and demolition perspective. It's a typical comet - all the better for
scientific analysis - yet has a large nucleus and weak coma, all the easier for
the impactor to survive the dusty obstacle course and to nail the nucleus. Grammier says the latest calculations put the chance of the
impactor missing its target at less than 1 percent. The automatic navigation
software has already been tested in space; this will be a fancier version of
what successfully flew on NASA's Deep Space 1, a testbed
spacecraft launched in 1998, and Stardust, the earlier comet spacecraft.
"We all feel
pretty comfortable with that (the odds), but as we've all said before, we're
doing something we haven't done before," Grammier
says.
11. NASA guarantees
that no matter how powerful the punch or how big the crater, Deep Impact will
barely alter the comet's orbital path around the sun and will not - repeat, not
- put the comet or any part of it on a collision course with Earth. Yeomans calculates that to move Tempel
1 or a piece of it into an Earth-intersecting orbit, the impactor would have to
be 6,000 times more massive than what will shoot out of the mothership on July
3. The very next day, the 820-pound impactor will strike at the heart of the
comet, creating one awesome Fourth of July display. By celestial standards, the crater that is
formed - anywhere from the size of a house to Rome's Coliseum, and from two to
14 stories deep - should be just a dent. Besides, comets get bombarded with
stuff all the time; they're pockmarked with craters and cliffs.
"You've got an
object the size of a bushel basket running into an object that's 9 miles in
length, so we're not going to do any real damage to the comet," Yeomans says.
12. Some scientists,
however, contend the comet will shatter into several pieces. Others hypothesize
that Deep Impact will create a crater but shove everything in, with hardly anything
or nothing ejected.
"It is the
uncertainty in the predictions - or the wide range of predictions - that make
it particularly important to do this conceptually very simple experiment,"
says the University of Maryland's Michael A'Hearn,
the mission's chief scientist.
13. Whatever the
outcome, scientists expect to learn something about deflecting a killer comet -
or possibly an asteroid - if one ever happens Earth's way. Comets, after all,
have hit Earth before and are thought to have brought water with them. Another practical benefit of the mission: By
knowing what's inside comets, NASA would be better able to use them in the
future as watering holes and fueling stations. Robots or astronauts, for
instance, could break the comet's water down into its basic elements, hydrogen
and oxygen, the ingredients for rocket fuel. Then there is all the scientific
knowledge to be gained from studying comets, essentially giant dirty snowballs
circling the sun. Formed the same time
as the planets 4.5 billion years ago, comets are considered the leftover
building blocks of the solar system. When the comets periodically swing close
by the sun, their surfaces heat up and change, and so only their interiors
preserve cosmic-origin clues.
14. The impactor -
composed mainly of a 317-pound solid copper disk - will maneuver itself in the
oncoming path of the comet and, in essence, get run over by the comet. The
relative speed at the moment of the collision will be 23,000 mph, enough to
vaporize the impactor. Copper was chosen
because, like gold and silver, it does not react with water and will not taint
the observations, and it is much cheaper.
A camera on the impactor will photograph the comet and beam back the
pictures, almost all the way up until the moment of destruction. A pair of
cameras on the mothership - flying by at a safe 300 miles - will document the
actual strike and the ensuing eruption and crater, and send back all the
images.
"We expect to
provide great fireworks for all our observatories," Grammier
says, "and that's exciting to do it on July Fourth."
15.
In conclusion and as a preliminary investigation to the Summer Solstice 2005
revision of the Chapter 11 the implementation of the Convention on
Registration of Objects Launched into Outer Space (1975) shall be reviewed
for compliance. Believing that a mandatory system of
registering objects launched into outer space would, in particular, assist in
their identification and would contribute to the application and development of
international law governing the exploration and use of outer space. Under Art. 2 When a space object is launched
into earth orbit or beyond, the launching State shall register the space object
and inform the Secretary General of the United Nations who under Art. 3 keeps
an international registry of such space objects, launching states and orbital
parameters. The United Nations Office for Outer Space
Affairs undertakes to maintain this registry. The US Registry of Objects
Launched into Outer Space is maintained by the Space and Advanced
Technology (SAT) staff.
Certificate of Service title24usode@aol.com
: Sunday 2 January 2005
klaws@email.arc.nasa.gov,
access@mail.arc.nasa.gov, sshaikh@mail.arc.nasa.gov,
cep@hq.nasa.gov, webmaster@imo.net, visual@imo.net,webmaster@imo.net, meteors@comcast.net, mcbal.gwyvre@virgin.net, znojil@med.muni.cz, bakmann@city.dk, jrendtel@aip.de, olech@rigel.astrouw.edu.pl, lbellot@ll.iac.es, jmtrigo@ctv.es, media@ball.com, mailto:lunsford@amsmeteors.org,%20ksyo@bellsouth.net,
jrich@amsmeteors.org, epmajden@home.com, dwilliam@nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov,mailto:david.r.williams@gsfc.nasa.gov?Subject=DEEPIMP,
ma@astro.umd.edu,
oosa@unvienna.org, jacksondm@state.gov,
information@icj-cij.org, mail@icj-cij.org, webmaster@icj-cij.org, david_b_nielsen@bankone.com
16. The Advisory
Opinion of 6 January 2005 renames Comet P/Tempel 1 to
Comet A’Hearn in honor of the Principal Investigator
of the Mission Dr. Michael A'Hearn.
17. DEEP NEWS,Newsletter for the Deep Impact mission Issue #18,
January 2005. The Deep Impact mission
team is making final preparations for the launch of the twin spacecraft that
will travel to Comet Tempel 1. The Deep Impact
mission is a partnership among the University of
Maryland (UMD), the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL) and Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp (BATC). Deep Impact is
a NASA Discovery mission, eighth in a series of low-cost, highly focused space
science investigations. Educators from
across the country are making their way to Kennedy Space Center for a winter
science workshop on Deep Impact and comets. Armed with hands-on activities and
new information on comet science and astronomy, these new members of the Deep
Impact outreach effort will head back to prepare students for the July 2005
encounter with Comet Tempel 1. One of the spacecraft,
a "smart" impactor, will collide with Tempel
1 to create a crater the size of a football stadium exposing material that will
tell us more about the formation of the solar system. The Deep Impact
spacecraft moves to the launch pad and into the Delta II rocket in preparation
for launch. Comet Tempel 1 is heading toward our
point of encounter for July 2005. It will meet our twin spacecraft there as one
makes a crater in its surface and the other one watches and sends images and
data back to Earth.
Mission Website: http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/ or http://deepimpact.umd.edu/
Multimedia Gallery: http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=24683
Comet Tempel 1 Foto: http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/comet9-tempel.html
Mission Update: http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/update-200501.html
Biography of Kavita Kaur: http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/bio-kkaur.html
Deep News Archive: http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/newsletter/archive.html
Discovery Program: http://discovery.nasa.gov/
Feedback: http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/feedback.html
Subscribe: http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/newsletter/signup.html
Discovered only last
year, Comet Machholz is now soaring through the sky, visible in
binoculars and dimly apparent to the naked eye. From now until Jan. 15 is a
prime time to view the comet without the glare of the moon, but it will be
visible for the entire month of January 2005.
Organic Law HA-10-1-05
Alpha Centauri System HA-12-3-05
Metric
Imperial Conversion Table HA-6-1-05
Hello,
Watching “Gravity” again recently with some friends made me
realize what little they - all grown adults, obviously - actually know about
astronomy. Some of them feel uncomfortable and nervous because of how big
and mysterious it is for them. This got me excited about putting together
some fun resources on the theme of space. And so I did!
I’ve hand selected a few that I think will help add to the resources you
already have on your page (http://www.title24uscode.org/
Astronomy Books for Adults
Aerospace History: the Space Shuttle
http://www.e-aircraftsupply.
The Moon: A Resource Guide
http://www.astrosociety.org/
The Exploratorium Observatory
http://www.exploratorium.edu/
Physics Calculations
http://www.calculators.org/
I hope these are useful to you and
your visitors!
All the best,
Jasmine
www.educatorlabs.org