Nasa launches probe to collide with comet
AP, Pasadena
Nasa spacecraft with a Hollywood name released a probe early Sunday on a collision course with a speeding comet, an ambitious mission that scientists hope will offer the first peek inside one of these icy bodies. Deep Impact released its barrel-sized "impactor" at 2:07 a.m. EDT on a suicide journey that is expected to climax 24 hours later when the comet Tempel 1 smashes into it. The high-speed crash will produce an Independence Day weekend explosion that should be visible from parts of the Western Hemisphere. Comets contain the frozen primordial ingredients of the solar system and studying them could provide clues to how the sun and planets formed. Nasa says an impact will not significantly change the comet's orbital path around the sun, so the $333 million experiment poses no danger to Earth. The 820-pound copper probe successfully separated from the mothership to set the stage for the collision with the comet, according to mission control at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. Electrical wires connecting the spacecraft broke, springing free the probe.
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