Fun Facts About COLLIDE  

• Each Impactor Box System (IBS) on COLLIDE is held together by 83 screws.  This makes for a total of 498 screws just for the six IBS's on COLLIDE.
• Okay, maybe that one isn't that fun.  But check here for new trivia and minutiae related to COLLIDE as we begin final assembly and integration.
• I think it's pretty fun that Lance's Support Structure didn't fit into the GAS container NASA shipped us.  Of course, Lance doesn't think it's that fun, and neither would I if we had waited until the experiment had been fully assembled before checking the fit.
• Even though COLLIDE is basically a mechanical experiment, we still have 130 major electrical lines and will probably have close to 1000 feet of wiring when completed.
• The strongest spring on COLLIDE for launching its projectiles in microgravity environment of Earth orbit is only strong enough to lift our teflon impactors about 5 millimeters in the one Earth gravity environment of the laboratory.  In space, this should launch the projectile at a speed of 1 meter per second.  In contrast, the slowest projectile is designed to travel at a sloth-like 1 centimeter per second.