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Comet-Chaser Rosetta Ready For Launch

Posted by timothy on from the we-need-ice-cubes dept.

Karl Kennedy writes "Europe's Rosetta space mission, which aims to chase and then land on a comet, is standing by for lift-off in French Guiana. Once up in space, Rosetta will be placed in orbit around Earth before departing for the outer Solar System. In 2014, Rosetta will reach the comet and deliver a lander to its surface. The probe will perform three close fly-bys of the Earth and one of Mars in "slingshot" manoeuvres that will use the planets' gravity to help the probe build up speed."

3 of 33 comments (clear)

  1. Finally by Justin+Ames · · Score: 5, Funny

    The language barrier between earth and comets will be bridged by the Rosetta probe. Now, instead of harsher measures, we can talk a comet out of hitting us...

    1. Re:Finally by Daniel+Dvorkin · · Score: 4, Funny

      No, it's a European probe. Probably a good thing, too.

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      The correlation between ignorance of statistics and using "correlation is not causation" as an argument is close to 1.
  2. Artificial Intelligence by El · · Score: 3, Funny

    During Rosetta's rendezvous with the comet, commands from Earth will take about 50 minutes to reach the spacecraft. So the probe has been designed with a degree of autonomy, allowing it to think for itself. Couldn't this come back to haunt us, or have I been watching too much Sci-Fi? You know, if it could really think for itself, Rosetta would be telling us "You want me to do WHAT?!? Are you out of your mind?!?"

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    "Freedom means freedom for everybody" -- Dick Cheney