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Successful Rosetta Lift-Off

Posted by timothy on from the off-to-meet-the-star-seed dept.

CrystalFalcon writes "The BBC is reporting that the Rosetta spacecraft has had a successful lift-off after a two cancelled launch attempts. Rosetta is targeted at a near-Earth comet, and features a 'lander.' The European Space Agency has more information on the mission."

1 of 28 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Attached by Harpoon by scorp1us · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This idea is just sooo bad.
    You're going to launch harpoon at a block of ice and hope it sticks? What is to say that:
    1) The harppon doesn't glance off
    2) the harpoon fractures the ice in 1/2 (or less)
    3) The launch of the harpoon sends the lander flying backwards, the impending jerk at the end of the cord pulls it back out of the ice (assuming it attaches securely in the first place) or damages the lander.

    It just sounds like a 1 in a billion shot to me. (No pun intended. I'd think a drill-in and screw-in would me more reliable.

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    Slashdot's rate-of-post filter: Preventing you from posting too many great ideas at once.