A space ship launches from Earth and travels millions of
kilometers in pursuit of a comet that circles the sun every
five-and-a-half years. Once in its sights, the spaceship
releases an impactor in the comet's path, and when they collide,
a massive hole is blasted in the streaking cosmic dust ball. The
explosion of rocks, ice and dust that follows creates a type of
heavenly fireworks that burst into space on US Independence Day.
It sounds like the script of a new science fiction film, but
it's not. NASA is preparing the mission for real; only its name
has been borrowed from Hollywood: Deep Impact. The 1988 movie
was about a comet headed for a nasty impact with Earth. NASA's
Deep Impact mission may not be quite as dramatic, but it will
far exceed the movie on technical and scientific merit. The
US$285 million mission is scheduled to launch from Cape
Canaveral, Florida today at 1:48pm. It will culminate -- if all
goes according to plan -- with a chunk being blown out of the
comet Tempel 1 on July 4. NASA hopes