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September 14-The ESA is about to declare the site on Comet 67P where the Rosetta operation will attempt to make a remarkable landing challenge and this successfully soft-land on a comet would be a first in the history of space exploration.
Engineers and scientists have used up the weekend discussing where on the surface, it might be achievable to put down a small contact robot.
ESA says the selection of landing sites will be announced on Monday, a primary objective and a backup before a last decision is made in October but Esa warnings that this high-risk venture should be seen as an exciting extra on the Rosetta mission and any site is selected will be exceptionally challenging.
Rosetta is traveling around Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which is extremely irregular in shape, with a landscape that is marked by deep holes; gigantic cliffs contain potentially dangerous rocks and cracks.
Rosetta will dispatch the piggybacked Philae robot from a distance of about 10km to 67P, this spider-like robot will hope to connect the surface at “walking pace”, installing screws and harpoons in an attempt to lock itself down.
It will be a unique chance and the experience will take place so far from Earth that real-time radio manages will not possible.
Instead, the process will have to be completely programmed with commands uploaded several days in advance.
Dr Christopher Carr, a major researcher of this mission said that everything we’ve discovered at 67P/C-G so far says that we’ve chosen an incredible comet to visit.
He also said that there’s a real sense of excitement within the Rosetta community, and we’re all looking forward to the year ahead because no spaceship has ever orbited an active comet before, so there’s a lot to discover about spacecraft and instrument actions, but we’ve got a really vital mission carrying some of the best instrumentation possible, and I have to say that the operations teams at the ESA are doing an excellent job like a true professional.
But, of course, the Philae major aim is to take a comet sample into an on board laboratory.
Rebecca McGhee
Rebecca McGhee is a valuable contributor for several publications and online platforms. Having graduates with a degree in Computer Science, her interest lies mostly in this area. Yet, she finds any tech-related topic or scientific topic is a challenge worth meeting. She enjoys turning her own research projects in worthy contributions that reach the large public. And mostly, she is grateful for all the feedback she receives from readers, as she believes it aids her in permanently improving her style of writing, beyond the scientific style she is accustomed to.
