comet •

NASA Expects Philae to Wake up in Summer

November 28, 2014 By Germaine Hicks 3 Comments

Everyone knows that the landing of Philae went a bit out of plan. The Philae lander bounced back twice before landing safely on the surface of the comet.

Recently, scientists of Rosetta comet mission informed that they are pretty sure that Philae lander would restart sometimes in spring or summer of 2015.

The recent movement of the lander provides strong hopes to scientists. In the month of August, the comet moved towards the nearest point to the sun. There are 50 percent chances that the Philae would be able to get large amount of sunlight from that location in the future. The sunlight will provide enough energy to the solar panels of lander so that it can recharge its batteries.

Michael Maibaum, an engineer of Philae system stated that scientists believe that the lander will get sufficient energy to recharge its batteries till the month of March of 2014. Hence, scientists expect a few of the operations of lander to restart in the summer of 2015.

On the other hand, Rosetta which is considered as the mother of Philae lander works flawlessly. Currently, it is observing numerous cometary actions such as jets of material. This is the first evidence scientist found that the nucleus covers itself in a tenuous gaseous cloud.

Furthermore, scientists expects that Rosetta might spot Philae through its high resolution cameras. Earlier, Rosetta and Philae carried out a radio experiment which helps researchers to determine the current position of the lander.

Michael A ’Hearn, a professor of astronomy stated that researchers are unaware of the exact location of Philae. However, they doubt that the lander is at a particular place near the comet. If it’s correct then soon seasonal changes will bring Philae in front of the sun.

Philae’s 60 Hours Stay On Comet 67/P

November 18, 2014 By Jason Leathers Leave a Comment

The play of Philae’s moderate fall, bob and sad slide into hibernation was a standout amongst the most exciting science stories of an era. Anyhow, what did it attain in its short 60 hours of life on Comet 67/P?

The short answer is systematic chemistry.

Philae’s freight included 3 instruments that are truly common in science labs, however, when conveyed on a comet could answer queries about the inceptions of the earth’s planetary system and life itself.

Right or Left Handed Life

About 4 billion years ago the earth’s planetary system was an unsettled spot. Earth was experiencing substantial assault by space rocks (asteroids) and comets. This ceaseless shower may have conveyed a considerable amount of water to our planet. However, the comets weren’t simply messy snowballs. A third of their contents was presumably intricate organic (that is, carbon-based) particles. These mixes may well have set off the science that prompted life on our planet.

One of the major objectives of Philae was to provide the evidence that the organic chemicals on a comet are sufficiently like the building pieces of life to hold up the comet sway hypothesis for abiogenesis. A key variable is whether Comet 67/P (and by expansion other comets) contain transcendentally right- or left-handed particles.

Numerous particles come in one of two structures, known as stereoisomers, which physicists assign as left- or right-handed. These two structures are indistinguishable, despite of the fact that they are mirror images of one another.

Your hands are a flawless similarity. Structurally, they are the same with the exception of the way that you can’t superimpose one on the other. And so is the case with stereoisomers.

Unusually, life on Earth is entirely based on left-handed particles. It is consummately doable to make the right-handed editions, yet life simply doesn’t. Where this inclination for left-handedness originates from — is a riddle. One hypothesis is that the predisposition originated from within the chemistry of comets. In the comets, right-handed particles may have been specially devastated by a mix of daylight (to give vitality to activate chemical reactions) and liquid water (with which the organic compounds could react).

COSAC instrument of Philae is intended to sniff away at the comet’s natural substance and evaluate whether they resemble the building pieces of life and, vitally, whether the comet contains the same inclination for lefty chemistry as Earth-bound life.

Homegrown Waste Or Alien Debris

Most speculations hold that comets were created from the same cloud (nebula) that formed the rest of the earth’s planetary (solar) system. However, this is not the situation. It may be the case that they are genuinely antiquated bodies that altogether, or partially, originate before the solar system, or maybe they have congregated here substantially as of late? Philae’s Ptolemy instrument means to answer this inquiry by looking at the proportions of distinctive isotopes inside Comet 67/P.

A given component is characterized by the quantity of protons in its core. For instance, carbon dependably has 6 protons. Though, the quantity of neutrons can differ giving rise to carbon-12 (6 protons and 6 neutrons), carbon-13 (with 7 neutrons) and carbon-14 (with 8 neutrons). All these distinctive varieties are known as isotopes. The proportion of these isotopes in any given body will fluctuate relying upon its sources. Also, since the material in the earth’s planetary system originated from pretty much the same spot, the isotopic carbon proportions for the Sun, the Earth and space rocks (asteroids) are essentially the same.

At the same time comets may be distinctive, indeed remote estimations of comet Hale-Boop recommend that it might be an extra-solar alien. The issue is there were substantial vulnerabilities in these readings, so we can’t make certain of their exactness. By sending the Ptolemy instrument to the surface of a comet this ought to all be determined, as its isotopic estimations are intended to be as exact as those performed on Earth, and the solar or alien origins of Comet 67/P can be affirmed.

Snowball Production Lines

If comets originated from the same stock as whatever is left of the earth’s planetary system; where and how were they formed? The Hubble telescope seen comets in the Kuiper belt simply beyond Neptune, in the mean time the Oort Cloud (another 10,000 times farther away) is thought to contain cold bodies that may, incomprehensibly, has dense closer to Jupiter and Saturn.

Evaluating where 67/P may have begun is the job of APXS, an instrument intended to find out the elemental composition of dusty parts of the comet. By contrasting this with the material on Earth, the causes of which we are more certain about, we should be able to evaluate the origination of 67/P.

First Images Of Philae Landing Released By ESA

November 16, 2014 By Jason Leathers Leave a Comment

As per the recent reports revealed, the European Space Agency has published the images of the Philae probe moments after its initial touchdown.

No doubt, it was a menacing wait after the Philae lander leaped a mile back into space subsequent to its first contact with the comet 67/P.

The comet is successfully landed just few mins later, over half a mile away from its intended spot.

The comet’s landing images were first posted on the ESA’s Rosetta Blog, little blurred escorted by a dark pitch– which the experts believe is its shadow.

The ESA’s flight dynamic team observers spent long hour analyzing and evaluating the recording before their conclusion was made public.

The European Space Agency officials told that the comet has been sending images and other relevant data to Earth through the Rosetta satellite, however, as yet we don’t have access to photographs of the probe itself after landing.

Moreover, the ESA officials revealed that the probe is damaged during landing and its battery is not charging anymore. Actually, after running out of power, the battery is in stand-by mode. But engineers were constantly trying to maximize the possibility of recharging its power supply by sending a command to relocate the lander.

The relocation of the comet means to raise it by 4cm and rotate its main housing by 35 percent in order to ensure the largest panel catches the most light.

“With the information relayed by Philae until now, the agency is ‘hugely happy’”, Prof Mark McCaughrean, Esa’s senior scientific adviser said.

European Probe’s Perilous Landing Will Be ‘7 hrs of Terror’

November 12, 2014 By Brian Galloway Leave a Comment

To land a probe on the surface of the comet whizzing through deep space is difficult, however, this week, the ESA (European Space Agency) stab to accomplish just that. If effective, it’ll be the first time a probe has landed on the surface of the comet. NASA Officials coping with ESA’s Rosetta mission are intending to land the robot Philae probe on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s surface on 12^th November. You’ll be able to follow Philae’s historic progress LIVE webcast from ESA and NASA begin 11^th November and all through Wednesday. The NASA’s representatives on Earth should be aware of once the landing went well by 11:02 a.m. EST on 12^th November.

Certainly, the probe landing is a risky maneuver.

Comet 67P/C-G’s detailed mapping began in August, when Rosetta turned up moving Philae. The comet’s surface is tossed with large portions of rock and cracks, and Philae’s landing system does not have approached to maneuver at the last second.

The researchers on Earth will probably have 7 hours to find out whether a Philae’s tour to the surface was successful. NASA video has even called that block of time as ‘7 hours of terror’, a reverence to the NASA Curiosity rover’s “7 minutes of terror” video that referred to the Mars rover’s landing sequence.

“Andreas Accomazzo, Rosetta operations manager at the European Space Agency, said in a Google+ Hangout on Friday (7th November), “This comet is very, very rough. But this is what we have, and this is what we are trying to do. We have to be a bit lucky as well.”

Rosetta organizers will expend 10^th November and Tuesday searching in the landing orbit and planning mother spacecraft to release Philae. Among the most popular occasions is going to be late Tuesday evening, when remotes only have 4 hrs to transmit instructions to Philae and make certain it’s all set to go.

Accomazzo said, “We have 4 hours to place them together, check to ensure they’re reliable, uplink to the spacecraft — and double-check they are OK to the spacecraft. It’s a pretty dense group of activities we must do.”

First Comet Landing

The program then requires Rosetta to release Philae Wednesday at 3:35 a.m. EST. (European Space Agency authorities on the Earth will discover whether the release was effective 28 minutes and 20 seconds later, once the signal reaches Earth).

The spaceship is simply too far for controllers to do anything but hold their collective breath because the probe makes its descent. European Space Agency mission controllers should get a signal from Philae throughout its descent at approximately 5:53 a.m. EST. Once that signal is made, Rosetta can begin beaming back science information collected by Philae coming down to the comet’s surface.

By about 11 a.m. EST, researchers ought to know if Philae arrived at the surface of the comet.

Rosetta must also make several operations to remain in touch with Philae throughout its descent, landing and post-landing activities. The European Space Agency added that both Rosetta and Philae seem to be fit to date, so that they are intending to find the best.

Comet passing by Mars surface creates a huge Dust Storm, Orbiters kept at far side of Mars for safety

November 9, 2014 By Rebecca McGhee 1 Comment

Comet Siding Spring closely flew by Mars surface last month. As a result of which it dumped several tons of primordial dust into the thin Martian atmosphere creating a brief but a spectacular meteor shower with thousands of shooting stars per hour if by any chance astronauts were present there to witness it.

The comet dust also posed a much more serious threat than expected to an international fleet of spacecraft in orbit around the red planet and roving about its surface. While engineers did not think the comet posed a major hazard, the orbiters were maneuvered to put them on the far side of Mars during close approach. This was done to avoid any unprecedented event and it turned out to be a very wise decision in the end.

“After observing the effects on Mars and how the comet dust slammed into the upper atmosphere, it makes me very happy that we decided to put our spacecraft on the other side of Mars at the peak of the dust tail passage and out of harm’s way,” Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA headquarters, told reporters during a teleconference. “I really believe that hiding them like that really saved them, and it gave us a fabulous opportunity to make these observations.”

Siding Spring originated during the birth of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago and come from far beyond the orbit of Pluto, halfway to the next nearest star. This was Siding Spring’s first journey to the inner solar system which began almost a million or so years ago.

The comet passed within 87,000 miles from the Mars surface at a relative velocity of about 35 miles per second on October 19.

“We believe this type of event occurs once every eight million years or so,” Green said. “So it is indeed a rare opportunity for us to observe this.”

Three NASA orbiters i.e. the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, the Mars Odyssey and the newly arrived Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) along with the European Space Agency’s Mars Express and India’s Mars Orbiter Mission all trained their cameras and instruments on the comet or the Martian atmosphere to study the possible effects of Siding Spring’s passage.

By analyzing photos taken at different distances, and given the comet’s trajectory and sun’s illumination, Siding Spring could be larger than a mile across or just a few hundred yards.

MAVEN’s Ultraviolet Spectrograph instrument detected major changes as dust from the comet slammed into atoms and molecules in the upper atmosphere, high-energy collisions that caused the thin air to glow. The spacecraft’s Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer detected clear signs of eight ionized metals which are sodium, magnesium, potassium, chromium, manganese, iron, nickel and zinc that spiked immediately following the comet’s flyby and then faded away.

The amount of dust and its effects on the atmosphere were a surprise. Green said initial modeling indicated Mars would just skirt the edge of Siding Spring’s dust tail. More recent photos taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, however, showed the comet’s trajectory was slightly different than expected. And the dust tail was larger than initially believed.

“The analysis seemed to indicate Mars would miss the dust tail in a significant way,” Green said. “In other words, as the comet flies by the dust tail is following the trajectory…. it still would not have reached Mars to any significant amount. The surprise was indeed the dust tail seemed to be larger. The other surprise, the comet wasn’t quite in the same position we thought it was.”

Most of the particles were very small, tiny fractions of an inch across. But given their extreme velocity, they had a noticeable effect. And it would have destroyed the spacecrafts within no time so it was a wise decision to keep the spacecrafts on the far side of Mars.

Comet 67P Stinks -ESA Reported

October 27, 2014 By Rebecca McGhee Leave a Comment

Do you really wish to know what a comet smell like? In simple words, it smells like a rotten egg.

Recently, researchers of European Space Agency revealed that comet generally contain a horrible smell.

Experts analyzed the Rosetta spacecraft comet 679 Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The study unveils that the comet releases a strong gas vapors with the help of “out gassing”. It usually transforms the comet’s ice into a water vapor through sunlight.

Scientists utilized special instruments on board of the European Spacecraft Rosetta. The spacecraft is all set to fall a Lander on the icy exterior of the comet.

The ESA website reported that the comet smell is so unique that no one wishes to smell it.

Moreover, Kathrin Altwegg who is the project leader notified that this smell would increase when the spacecraft moves closer to the sun. The sun will compel the spacecraft to produce more gas.

Scientists were really eager to find out the configuration of comet as these chemical fumes would probably disclose some significant details related to the origin of the solar system.

The gaseous arrangement of Comet 67P is same as the composition of other comets of Oort cloud.

This smell of toxic gases can only be stopped with a dangerous mixture of gases such as ammonia, hydrogen cyanide, formaldehyde and hydrogen sulfide.

Comet To Pass From Near The Red Planet: ISRO Warned Mangalyaan!

October 17, 2014 By Jason Leathers Leave a Comment

It seems like the Universe has organized a special event for scientists this weekend.

Recently, NASA informed that a fast moving mountain like comet is ready to fly by Mars. This kind of encounter occurs once in a decade.

The comet generally known as Siding Spring was discovered in the first month of 2013. It is nearly one mile wide and is set to pass by the Red Hot Planet on Sunday. The comet will move towards the planet with a speed of 126,000 mph, that is equal to the one third of the distance between the Earth and the moon.

It would certainly be the first visit of the internal side of the solar system. Five robotic explorers of NASA ,along with two rovers are all set to witness this incredible incident. The two rovers of NASA Curiosity and Opportunity have turned on their camera to capture the images and send it back to NASA.

Initially, the craft would examine the incoming ice ball and later on it will move behind the planet Mars in order to protect itself from hazardous fragments.

The small comet has a high risk of collision with the Red Planet. However, scientists are even ready to face this risk in order to examine every minor detail related to the flight of the comet.

Jim Green, the director of the Planetary Science Division informed that the chances of destruction of the comet are considerably low. NASA has designed its Mars orbiters in a manner that high speed fragment cannot easily destroy them.

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