Russian astrologer seeks $310 million of moral damage compensation from NASA
The astrologer believes that NASA’s plans ruin the personal memory of her grandparents
NASA’s Deep Impact space probe, which was launched in January of the current year, is supposed to attack Tempel 1 comet on 4 July 2005. The project became one of the most ambitious space activities of NASA.
According to the plan, the probe is expected to near the comet and fire a 270-kilo shell at it, in the direction of the comet’s nucleus. If the process is successful, the shell is to hit the comet at the speed of 37,000 km/h on USA’s Independence Day, 4 July 2005.
Specialists believe that a football stadium-sized crater is supposed to be formed as a result of the shot. Scientists will be able to see the contents of the comet’s nucleus. Scientists will be observing the process with the help of video cameras installed on board the Deep Impact probe, and also with the help of US telescopes – Hubble, Chandra and Spitzer. The shell itself is also outfitted with a video camera.
The structure of the comet nucleus will provide more information about the formation of the Solar system. Scientists believe that comets were formed about 4,6 billion years ago, when the Sun and planets of the Solar system were being formed.
The impact is space is to occur at the distance of 132 kilometers far from Earth. Scientists say that the “terrorist act in space” will not cause much damage to the comet itself. The collision of the space probe with the comet can be comparable with a flying bug that smashes into the windscreen of a racing car.
In the meantime, Russian astrologer Marina Bai demands NASA’s project to bomb Tempel 1 comet should be canceled and banned. The astrologer believes that the plan of the US space agency is an attempt against the natural life in space, which might break the natural balance of the Universe. Marina Bai filed a lawsuit against NASA seeking the protection of her moral and life values. The Russian scientist says that the above-mentioned comet is rather valuable for her as personal memory: the comet gave a start to the relationship of the astrologer’s grandparents. Marina Bai clarified that when her grandfather met her grandmother, he showed her the comet in the sky, and it became the romantic start of their long family life. 
The Russian astrologer evaluates her moral damage in the sum of over 310 million USD. A Moscow court has already declined the astrologer’s lawsuit on account of immunity from the Russian jurisdiction. A higher instance court has cancelled the decision, though, and sent the case for further consideration with NASA’s participation. Marina Bai’s lawyer said that NASA has its office on the Russian territory, in the premises of the US embassy in Moscow.
Read the original in Russian: (Translated by: Dmitry Sudakov)
