Thursday, June 09, 2005
Space Guns
Those in the know, know that we have a spacecraft headed for a comet this summer. It's going to shoot a projectile at the comet and attempt to collect some debris so we can see what a comet is really made of.
But did you know that the Japanese are doing essentially the same thing to an asteroid? Although I wonder why. COmets have never, as far as we know, survived the trip through the atmosphere to impact the earth -- we have to go out there to check them out.
Asteroids, on the other had, are the stuff of meteors, and there are all kinds of those laying around.
But did you know that the Japanese are doing essentially the same thing to an asteroid? Although I wonder why. COmets have never, as far as we know, survived the trip through the atmosphere to impact the earth -- we have to go out there to check them out.
Asteroids, on the other had, are the stuff of meteors, and there are all kinds of those laying around.
