The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft has been cleared to send a
landing craft to a predetermined spot on comet 67P next month.
by John
Tyburski
Copyright © Daily
Digest News, KPR Media, LLC. All rights reserved.
It is
comet-landing time. Officials at the European Space Agency have approved of a
plan for its Rosetta comet chaser to deploy a special lander on comet
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, an object that Rosetta has been stalking for the
past two months.
Comets are
thought to be ancient remnants of the formation of our solar system, and the
decision, made Tuesday, is one for attempting to reach a major milestone in
space exploration. The lander, called Philae, will descend to a specific
location on the comet called Site J, which is on the smaller of the two obvious
lobes of the 2.5-mile-wide comet. The colloquial name “rubber duck” comes from
the rubber duck-like shape of the comet, and the landing site will be on the
“head.”
“Now that
we know where we are definitely aiming for, we are an important step closer to
carrying out this exciting — but high-risk — operation,” Fred Jansen, Rosetta
mission manager, said in a statement.
The
mission team put Rosetta to within 62 miles of the comet on August 6 and has
steadily moved it in closer to within six miles. According to the plan to
contact the comet’s surface, Rosetta will be brought back out to about 14 miles
away, and then Philae will be launched. On its way in, Philae will capture
moment-by-moment images and samples of the dust, gas, and plasma. The lander
will take about seven hours to travel between Rosetta and the comet.
Once on
the surface, Philae will anchor itself and perform tests with its 10 different
solar-powered instruments before it gets too hot from the sun in March 2015.
Rosetta will continue to shadow the comet as it approaches and passes the sun
in August 2015 on its way to the outer solar system again.
No comments:
Post a Comment