Though its primary mission was to image Luna in detail then fly off to the planetoid Geographos (which failed when the probe wasted most of its manuevering fuel), Clementine was sponsored by the US military. There were even plans for a Clementine 2 to actually hit a space rock, if I am recalling correctly. But it was cancelled I think by the Clinton Administration.

Why are people worried about the militarization of space? Do they really think it is easy to just drop a missile or bomb from orbit? This is one reason why all those Cold War plans for military Moon bases didn't pan out: It would take days for a nuclear missile to reach Earth as just one issue.

See Project Horizon here:

http://www.astronautix.com/articles/propter1.htm

That's why most military space activities are confined to gather intelligence. Have there been weapons in space and will there be? Of course. But I would be far more concerned about the nuclear weapons sitting atop missiles on Earth and those who are trying to get nuclear material to make a bomb before anything that happens in space. I get the feeling that just like with Cassini, space is an "easy" target for certain anti-everything groups.

For those concerned about us "wrecking" a comet: Take a look at all the close up probe photos of comets, not to mention the planetoids and the terrestrial planets - they are covered with huge craters caused by massive bombardments of natural space debris over eons. One little copper ball making one crater is not going to ruin the Universe.