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Space

Probe to 'Look Inside' Asteroids 118

Posted by simoniker from the peek-a-boo dept.
bigjnsa500 writes "A new space mission concept by the European Space Agency called Deep Interior was unveiled at a Paris conference earlier this week, according to the BBC. Apparently: 'It aims to look inside asteroids to reveal how they are made. Deep Interior would use radar to probe the origin and evolution of two near-Earth objects less than 1km across. The mission, which could launch some time later this decade, would also give clues to how the planets evolved.' NASA also has a similar concept called Deep Impact."
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Probe to 'Look Inside' Asteroids More

Probe to 'Look Inside' Asteroids

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  • Probe? Roids? (Score:4, Funny)

    by Neil Blender ( 555885 ) <neilblender@gmail.com> on Thursday July 29, 2004 @12:25AM (#9828326)
    Cue the uranus jokes:

    wait for it...

    GO!
    • With a name like "Deep Impact", how can you not make uranus jokes?

      Too bad I have none. Still laughing at "Deep Impact". Too bad the man believed to be Deep Throat died recently (Today?).
    • Obligatory Futurama Quote:

      Fry: Hey, as long as you don't make me smell Uranus. (laughs)
      Leela: I don't get it.
      Professor: I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all.
      Fry: Oh. What's it called now?
      Professor: Urectum. Here, let me locate it for you.
      Fry: Hehe, no, no, I think I'll just smell around a bit over here.
    • No kidding. I read up to "Probe to 'Look Inside' As..." and I had read enough. I didn't even know there were roids involved! How disgusting!
    • A five year mission, to seek out new worlds, new civilizations, to boldly go ... where? Hey, what happened to the Venus plan?
    • King Ghidora, God of Space, Asteroids, and Mass Extinction, would like to inform Earth's space agencies that they are welcome to probe the interior of space rocks, but they are not welcome to probe his interior. Failure to comply with this order will result in all life on Earth being extinguished. Because He rules!

      Godzilla: No, I rule the world!

      Mothra: Boys, I rule: you!

      King Ghidora: No, I...

      Godzilla: Better behave. Remember what happened last time?

      King Ghidora: Er, yeah. You totally rule, Mothra!

      Godz
  • everyone who think the scientists that created this probe have not heard enough "ass-teroid probe jokes"
  • They are launching a probe INTO the astroid? Are they crazy? jeez, what people will do for the name of science.

    -----

    • Re:So wait... (Score:3, Interesting)

      by gartogg ( 317481 )
      On the 4th of July 2005, NASA is creating a large explosion visible to amateur astronomers everywhere; you can even see a video of how the explosion will look, sending a 800 lb (iirc) probe into a comet at 10 m/s (I'm sure of the speed.)

      But this isn't just flashy, no, we want to, uhhh to,
      AHA!
      See what the inside looks like, so we need to blow a hole in it. On July 4th. This coming year.
    • They are launching a probe INTO the astroid? Are they crazy? jeez, what people will do for the name of science.

      Doesn't the headline say they're using radar?

  • I looked into an Asteroids once (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Crowhead ( 577505 ) on Thursday July 29, 2004 @12:30AM (#9828359)
    Found a bunch of quarters.

  • So NASA is using movie names? (Score:4, Funny)

    by NightWulf ( 672561 ) on Thursday July 29, 2004 @12:35AM (#9828386)
    So at this rate let's see what NASA's future projects are:

    Project Lord of the Rings (2012, Probe to check out the rings of Saturn)

    Project Pluto Nash (2009, A giant probe/bomb to send to the planetoid Pluto in hopes of melting the ice)

    Project Mercury Rising (2015, Mission to send an autistic austronaut to Mercury to see if it really is as hot as they think)

    Come on people, what other movie names can fit in well with future NASA missions?

    • The Perfect Storm - Measurements of Jupiter's Great Red Spot
      Red Heat - Terraforming Mars
      The Phantom Menace - Cataloging Black Holes
      Clear and Present Danger - Tracking Near Earth Asteroids

      Sorry but I really have nothing better to do.
    • Project Apollo 13 to um.... d'oh!

    • Re:So NASA is using movie names? (Score:4, Funny)

      by SEWilco ( 27983 ) on Thursday July 29, 2004 @02:33AM (#9828831) Journal
      • Spiderman: Space elevator construction.
      • Catwoman: Space elevator climbing.
      • Fahrenheit 9/11: Testing of temperature measurement and conversion methods.
      • Dude, Where's my Car?: Examination of Apollo lunar relics.
      • I, Robot: Self-controlled self-directed probe searching for Philosopher's Stone.
      • Control Room: Simulator of Control Room.
      • The Day After Tomorrow: Government daily project scheduling research.
      • Dodgeball: Moving Earth out of the way of asteroids
      • Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle: Dual mission to test gas giant atmospheric fueling.
      • A Home At The End Of The World: Antarctic Mars outpost simulation.
      • The Hunting Of The President: Annual NASA budget approvals.
      • Man On Fire: Launch pad safety testing.
      • The Manchurian Candidate: Racing China to the Moon.
      • Maria Full of Grace: Space burial missions.
      • Natural Disaster: First mission to film an Earth-impact asteroid.
      • Natural Distaster: Final mission to film an Earth-impact asteroid.
      • Raising Helen: Launch of perfect mission to Trojan orbits.
      • Sleepover: Concurrent artificial hibernation experiments.
      • The Stepford Wives: Mission combining best of human and robotic technologies.
      • The Story of the Weeping Camel: Lunar water extraction mission.
      • Super Size Me: Food production from carbonaceous asteroid.
      • The Terminal: Orbital spaceport.
      • Thunderbirds: Rescue squad.
      • Troy: Gold extraction mission to asteroid.
      • Van Helsing: Orbital assembly of probe from pieces of old probes.
      • The Village: First Lunar maternity ward.
      • White Chicks: Underground lunar aquatic recreation facility.
      • White Heat: Mercury rover mission.
      • Little Black Book: Mission scheduling system.
      • Alien vs. Predator: Mission to make two asteroids collide.
      • We Don't Live Here Anymore: Probe to document effects after first Earth impact asteroid.
      • Without A Paddle: Experiments in zero-gravity propulsion by astronaut in large enclosed space.
      • Exorcist: The Beginning: First mission to hold an umbrella between warming Earth and the Sun.
      • Remember Me, My Love: Archive library mission before first Earth-impact asteroid.
      • Bright Young Things: Meteors caused by human space debris.
      • The Brown Bunny: Lunar coprolites.
      • Hero: NASA lobbyist.
      • Vanity Fair: Satellite whose primary instrument is a telescope which examines its own reflection on terrestrial smooth surfaces.
      • Last Life In The Universe: Ongoing reality show on NASA TV
      • The Cookout: Automated management of rotation for the cooling of space habitats.
      • Head In The Clouds: NASA mission statement.
      • Taxi: Rutan outsourcing
      • Shall We Dance: Phobos/Deimos sampling mission.
      • Flight of the Phoenix: International Space Station emergency escape plan.
      • After the Sunset: Post-terminator tracking probe.
      • Terminator 2: Second post-terminator tracking probe.
      • House of Flying Daggers: Saturn ring fly-through mission.
      • The Woodsman: Android to be sent ahead of manned mission to prepare site and then await discovery.
      • Proof: Global temperature measurement mission.
      • Fat Albert: Orion drive test using proven "Fat Man" technology.
      • Are We There Yet?: Mission status monitoring system.
  • That must be a fun job. I can just picture all the people trying to look serious standing around at mission control going pchearrrrbooommm.

  • Yeah.. but... (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Sheepdot ( 211478 ) on Thursday July 29, 2004 @01:08AM (#9828536) Journal
    When are they going to send a probe to Uranus?

    And I mean that in every nice way possible. There's actually a reason to study some of the moons there.

  • Deep Impact (Score:4, Interesting)

    by sssmashy ( 612587 ) on Thursday July 29, 2004 @01:09AM (#9828541)

    Nasa has a similar mission - Deep Impact - which will blow a hole in the comet Tempel 1 and measure the effects.

    I'm pretty sure the NASA mission's title - Deep Impact - is partly a homage to the movie of the same name. For all of its flaws, the movie's producers did consult with NASA and make a sincere effort to get the science right.

    Armageddon - the Bruce Willis/Ben Affleck flick that was the other asteroid picture that summer - spent zillions on special effects, but botched the science so badly that astronomers were seen choking on their popcorn. As I recall the plot and acting were equally wretched - but the movie was a success at the box office. There's no accounting for taste.

  • Why don't they take the easy route (Score:4, Interesting)

    by LS ( 57954 ) on Thursday July 29, 2004 @01:11AM (#9828549) Homepage
    And send a rag-tag deep core drilling team to do the job?

    • because robots and computers don't get drunk or make passes at each other. And because the film-makers wanted less wooden actors, possibly.

      great sig, by the way!

      • And because the film-makers wanted less wooden actors, possibly.

        I guess that explains why filmmakers can't seem to make a decent interpretation of Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio.

  • but the comms system didn't survive the impact.

  • Hmm (Score:1)

    by aklix ( 801048 )
    I wonder if asteroid is a delecacy on other planets...

  • radar vs. ground (Score:4, Insightful)

    by huxrules ( 649822 ) on Thursday July 29, 2004 @01:32AM (#9828622)
    I don't knw what kind of radar these guys are planning to send. But GPR (ground penetrating radar) only goes a few meters. I seriously doubt that they are going to launch an AGEIS system. All this proves- manned space flight (while possibly silly) is terribly better at geology. Why? We got shovels sukka.
  • Why is it that the American name is cheesy and inaccurate and the European name is cheesy and repetitive and both names are chock-full of sexual innuendo? Can nobody find good names these days?

    I vote for renaming the project to "Looking In Rocks", just for the sake of simplicity.

  • Do It Right (Score:1, Funny)

    by SEWilco ( 27983 )
    I'd prefer a mission where the inside of an asteroid is examined by taking it apart.

    How many grad students can fit in a Space Shuttle cargo bay?

  • They will find hunks of rock and crap inside. If they are lucky they might find some other crap, but if its valuable crap it will most likely be left alone for years as it would be far too expensive to mine it.
  • Deep Interior would use radar to probe the origin and evolution of two near-Earth objects less than 1km across. The mission, which could launch some time later this decade, would also give clues to how the planets evolved.'


    In all likelihood, more like "give clues to how the planets didn't evolve. Answers tend to lead to more questions that way.

    • Ah, but if we can say with more certanty how they didn't evolve, that tells us more about how they did evolve.
      As an analogy, lets say someone tells you that a friend of you drives a car that is either yellow, white or gray. A while later, you are told that the car your friend is driving is not yellow. While you still are not certain if it's white or gray, you have ruled out that it might be yellow - thus advancing your knowledge a certain degree.
      By eliminating some of the options, we home in on the plausi

      • Re:More like... (Score:2, Interesting)

        by causality ( 777677 )
        My whole point to my comment was to highlight the extreme complexity of the question, and in view of that complexity, I believed the article's statement to be a tad unrealistic.
        (end logic-only response)

        A lot of this comes from my belief that we will get to the heart of the mystery of existence (of planets, of us, of anything) by looking within instead of believing that mere observation, which by its nature is altered by the very act of observing (something that many philosophies have said since long be
        • The job we're talking about is working out how planets may have evolved.

          And you think the right tool is soul-searching introspection?

          That's the kind of attitude that put man firmly on the couch, not the Moon.

      • Ah, but if we can say with more certanty how they didn't evolve, that tells us more about how they did evolve. As an analogy, lets say someone tells you that a friend of you drives a car that is either yellow, white or gray.

        Unfortunately it was after my last post but I just came up with another, much simpler response to your analogy. Answering the question that the article talks about is more like saying, "a friend drives a car that is not grey, and according to our latest findings, does not appear to b

  • And found a challenging videogame from 1979 with laughably primitive graphics compared to today's braindead fighting/shooting/driving games with their fantastic, lifelike graphics.... :P

  • Deep Impact quite different. (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Aspherical Cow ( 627670 ) on Thursday July 29, 2004 @08:08AM (#9830115) Homepage Journal
    Actually, Deep Impact (NASA came up with the name before the movie, by the way) is quite different. Half of the Deep Impact spacecraft will actually ram into a comet (not an asteroid) in an attempt to churn up material from inside the comet. This is so the other half of the spacecraft, as well as telescopes on Earth, can see what is the composition, density, etc. of comets.
  • Have you guys noticed all of these agencies suddenly not just planning to make craft that can detonate an asteroid, but that are making one right now. Yea, like right now. I count 3 G7 governments and 1 UN so far over the world.

    Can somebody tell us when this fat bitch is going to ram a hole through the earth? Just in case my 2012-2014 calculation is off?

    Seriously folks. This isn't academic anymore. People that don't spend money on shit for space travel are building these ships to kill an asteroid. A
    • Have you guys noticed all of these agencies suddenly not just planning to make craft that can detonate an asteroid

      Nope. Might be something to do with the fact that nobody is planning a craft that can detonate an asteroid...

      but that are making one right now.

      ... much less building one. Plenty of folks are indeed designing and building craft designed to ram into a rock, but the only side in those collisions taking damage is the probe. Pure research.

      Yea, like right now. I count 3 G7 governments and 1

  • NASA Press Conference (Score:4, Funny)

    by jav1231 ( 539129 ) on Thursday July 29, 2004 @09:40AM (#9830848)
    "Well, we've managed to get the probe on the asteroid. This 1.2billion dollar mining probe has worked flawlessly. After 6 months of drilling some 300meters into the surface of the asteroid we can finally report that the asteriod core is made up of the same rock that it's crust is made of. Thank you."

  • Didn't they just do this? (Score:3, Funny)

    by 955301 ( 209856 ) on Thursday July 29, 2004 @10:05AM (#9831092) Journal

    My understanding is that Euro-space just recently buried a probe into the asteriod 'Mars'. Aren't they still waiting to get data back from that one?

  • ...several smaller asteroids. And inside those? You guessed it: more, smaller, asteroids.

  • Numerous errors in /. story (Score:3, Informative)

    by barakn ( 641218 ) on Thursday July 29, 2004 @12:42PM (#9832881)
    A new space mission concept by the European Space Agency called Deep Interior was unveiled

    The original BBC article was poorly written, but from it we learn something closer to the truth: "A proposal for the project, described here at the Committee on Space Research (Cospar) scientific assembly, was submitted to Nasa two weeks ago." It's a NASA mission, not an ESA mission.

    NASA also has a similar concept called Deep Impact

    Wrong. The article was comparing an ESA mission called Don Quijote to Deep Impact. Deep Interior and Deep Impact are very different. One will try to blast an enormous crater in an asteroid, and the other will passively scan an asteroid with radar.

  • on that common-denominator-humor option: I'm glad to see that the Human Rights Commission is finally taking an interest in ... oh, nevermind.

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