If it works out for 1,100 pounds of copper, the next try could be with let s say, a 1.2 Megaton B83 nuclear device , though it s a little heavier. A connection to an earlier comet . According to official data it passed the planet at 6.5 million kilometers It has not been seen or heard of since. The Martian disc turned out half as bright and twice its normal size. The comet did not reappear in sight from behind the planet on photos.
Nobody knows or wants to tell.
That is another interesting question. The decision now to carry out something from January 2004 until July 2005 is very short notice in NASA terms. It took them longer to plan e.g. Giotto s mission to Halley s Comet in 1986. That should raise a few eyebrows as well. Perhaps a little light on this matter can come from the books of Michel de Notredame, or Nostradamus, who wrote his Centuries some 450 years ago, with a glance into the future, so is believed by many.