hi everyone, I recently wrote to mike a'hearn, who led the deep impact science team. I urge anyone who agrees with me (especially my fellow US taxpayers) to write to these individuals at nasa to stress the importance of continuing the deep impact mission. what a shame it would be to not extend the mission of this healthy craft! by funding an extension (with a relatively modest budget), we'd get a lot more bang for the 333 million bucks which have been already spent on the mission. please read the following aritcle: http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1041 here is a copy of my correspondence with dr. a'hearn: Dear Mr. Szyman, Thanks very much for your interest and I appreciate your excitement. Apparently we will be required to submit a proposal for an extended mission to an Announcement of Opportunity that is scheduled to be released "in the fall". This will be a competitive selection with a peer review panel, but ultimately the selection is made by a NASA official. Key officials, bottom to top, would be Andy Dantzler, Colleen Hartmann, and Mary Cleave at NASA HQ. I don't know how much it would help to write, but it can't hurt. Mike A'Hearn dear mr. a'hearn, I just wanted to write you a quick note to tell you how pleased I am with the results of the deep impact mission and the resulting science returned. I followed the mission closely from the first time I heard of it, several years back. I wasn't able to see the launch live on TV as it occured, but I was watching on the 3rd and 4th of july. what a ride, what a show! you and your team are a shining jewel in the crown of our space program and indeed in the history of astronomy and astronautics! I think that in the field of solar system geology, this mission ranks up there near the top, alongside schmitt's discovery on apollo 17 and the genesis sample return mission. it's my hope you'll get the funding to continue the mission. if you can suggest anyone who I can write to over there in washington, I'd be more than happy to write them in your support. I want to encourage you in your future work, also, but mosty I wish to express how proud I am of you and your team. thank you again, and CONGRATS!!! stephan szyman chicago IL USA -- Michael F. A'Hearn Tel: 301 405 6076 Department of Astronomy FAX: 301 405 3538 University of Maryland College Park MD 20742-2421 deep impact's official website is http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html clear skies! stephan szyman chicago IL USA 41.6840N, 87.7000W; 188 msl ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe/Unsubscribe info, Frequently Asked Questions, SeeSat-L archive: http://www.satobs.org/seesat/seesatindex.html
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