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, lunsford@amsmeteors.org,
ksyo@bellsouth.net, jrich@amsmeteors.org,
epmajden@home.com, dwilliam@nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov,
david.r.williams@gsfc.nasa.gov,
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