- 1688 - November 12, 2014 Rosetta spacecraft sends a Lander to the surface of a comet. The spacecraft has been orbiting the comet since August. With instruments on the surface and on the orbiter we should learn much more about comets. They have been unaltered for billions of years since the solar system’s formation.
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--------------------------- 1688 - Today we* land on a comet!
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- Remember when Comet ISON passed us by in 2012. This comet circled the Sun and broke apart when it reached 1.16 million from the Sun’s surface. We lost a lot of science in our hopes to study the comet on its return trip after circling the Sun. It broke up too soon. Well, we have another chance today.
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- On August 6 this year the Rosetta spacecraft reached and began orbiting around Comet 67P. It is the 7th comet astronomers have visited in the past 30 years. But, this is the first visit to achieve orbit with a “lander” that is expected to last for at least 17 month of scientific study from the surface.
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- Comet 67P is a double-lobed nucleus with craters and boulders strewn across its surface which spreads 2.5 miles across. You can see many close up pictures already on the internet.
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- Today, November 12, 2014 , the Rosetta spacecraft released a “lander” module that now rests on the surface. New science is in process. We should learn a lot.
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- Comets are a time capsule that were created during the formation of our Solar System, 4,600,000,000 years ago. Astronomer believe Comet 67P originated in the Kuiper Belt of comets orbiting beyond the planet Neptune.
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- Over 1,500 Kuiper Belt objects have been identified, including the Dwarf Planet Pluto. Astronomers now estimate there are over 100,000 “objects” that are over 100 kilometers across, and 10,000,000,000 that are as large as 2 kilometers across.
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- Sounds impressive, but, if you add it all up the mass of these objects in the Kuiper Belt they are only 10% the mass of the Earth.
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- The 220 pound lander will set down on the surface traveling 1 mile per second through space along with the comet. It will fire harpoons into the surface to keep it secure upon landing. Dozens of instruments will take measurements and even samples will be drilled out of the surface.
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- Rosetta and Philae the Lander will continue measurements until December 2015 when the comet reaches 185 million miles away from the Sun.
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- Other spacecraft, New Horizons launched in 2006 will be visiting Pluto and its moon Charon. Charon has no atmosphere so comparing craters on its surface with those on Pluto will tell astronomers how Pluto’s elongated orbit has affected its erosion. Pluto might even have an underground ocean like Europa, Ganymede, Enceladus and Titan. This is a flyby mission with no orbit or landing like Rosetta is doing.
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- These spacecraft adventures may allow astronomers to answer, where did Earth’s water come from? We know that in the early formation for our planet water could not have survived. It had to be delivered later. Is the H2O in a comet identical to the H2O on Earth? What is the composition of a comet? When the Rosetta orbiter is on the opposite side of the comet from the Lander instruments can beam radio beams through the body of the comet. Equivalent to a CT Scan it will detail the internal structure of the comet.
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- Stay tuned, we expect to learn much, much more. Another giant leap for mankind
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- “we*” is the amazing humans beings that do this stuff.
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