What 5 Tons of TNT Does to a Comet | NASA Deep Impact

NASA decided to crash a spacecraft as hard as they could into Comet Tempel 1. But why?

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Image Credits: NASA/ESO/ESA
Music Credit: Stellardrone - Billions and Billions
Kevin MacLeod - Ever Mindful

[ericstromberg]

I actually watched the impact with a ten-inch Newtonian telescope. What I saw was a dim fuzzy spot suddenly becoming a bright fuzzy spot, but it was exciting to see it happen in the space of just a few minutes.

[daveadams]

The mathematics involved to calculate the exact trajectory and impact over such incredible distances just blows my mind 👍❤️

[stuartgray]

I was the Test Lead as we built both spacecraft, the Launch Conductor, and a Flight Director during the Mission from JPL. I can answer any question anyone might have about the hardware, the Integration & Test Process, or the Mission Operations. I was on console as the Impactor Command and Data Handling Subsystem Engineer and was one of the first two people to "Know" that we had hit the comet.

I designed those test boxes on the cart at 4:11

I was also test Engineer on the Stardust Mission that did the flyby of Tempel-1 to get our image of the impact crater in the end.

[saulo]

Can we stop for a while to appreciate the high quality space science documentaries available on YouTube nowdays? When I was a kid I didn't have "cable", and mostly watched these through DVDs such as Carl Sagan's Cosmos and some rare shows on free (UHF) TV channels. For those of you wondering what the heck UHF is, that's how most free TV channels are transmited to this day in Brazil.

[skyrangerbob]

Wow, nice to see this still being talked about. I worked on that program and did part of the design. That was a long time ago.

[SgtCandy]

"Earth primates gain symbolic vengeance for the death of the dinosaurs"

[idb]

One of the best space based channels... My previous fav was Frasier cain
Loads of love
nd thank u for all the space information in such a beautiful video presentation

[buryyourdraws]

They named the mission Deep Impact and scheduled it for Independence Day. Pretty subtle.

[AndreTJones]

These videos are amazing. This is almost like documentary meets ASMR

[katrix]

My academic mentor was lead scientist on the mission. Here’s her response to your video:

“Nice someone still cares. Odd most of the visuals were animations of the physical model of the spacecraft (i.e. the thing on my desk!). I hadn't see them before seems like we have "real" animations.

Thanks for sharing!”

Also, she can confirm that the name of the mission and movie were indeed a coincidence and was extraordinarily inconvenient.

[xliquidflames]

Reporter: Admit it. This mission was named after the movie, wasn't it?

NASA: What movie? /grin

[Dr.Kraig_Ren]

*This guy had a smile while narrating.*

*I bet my life savings on it.*

[brenthopley]

Hi from New Zealand, I've been watching your clips for sometime now and they are always interesting and informative. So you've hooked me with this one and I've subscribed. Thanks and keep up the great work.

[menacelurkingyet]

NASA shot a comet, but it did not shoot an asteroid.

[dmnr]

Here are a few additions to this mission, which are quite important since they change the whole context:
A cooper/aluminum "impactor" projectile was fired from the Probe... And NASA was very surprised by the resulting silicate dust and missing water molecules from the cloud.
Also NASA actually didn't expect such a highly energetic reaction, therefore the onboard cameras where adjusted too sensitively. That's why there only exist pictures of a bright flash although they actually wanted to record the impact crater.

Comets are like asteroids, mostly consistent of silicates, nickel and iron. Just with a higher discrepancy of charge: That's where the ion tail comes from. All in all we speak about a discharge event. Even tho shortly after the mission, NASA released a video on how to make a comet out of ice and some dirt. Which is false and deceptive information.

[mortified]

I didn't know about Deep Impact's second life as EPOXI. Awesome vid!

[nisargvyas]

I just love to see Astrum Videos and I always recommend my all friends to see your videos, I love your videos, keep going on. You will soon gain more and more subscribers!
-Nisarg Vyas
India 🇮🇳

[FloozieOne]

How did I miss this? Who knows, but you showed everything in such detail that seeing the original wouldn't have been as good. The comet must have been very very old. It's gravity can't have been very high and the tiny bits it was made of would have taken forever to be captured. Totally amazing mission and explanation. You've done it again Astrum, another masterpiece.

[archangelgabriel]

Deep impact (The movie) was based off of Arthur C. Clarkes HAMMER OF GOD.

[Aeschyne]

Astrum, you've earned my like and subscription a long while ago. So instead I just show ur vids to all my friends now! 🤗