Slashdot Mirror
Comet-Chasing Probe Wakes Up On Monday
Hugh Pickens DOT Com writes "Jason Major reports that after nearly a decade of soaring through the inner solar system, flying past Mars and Earth several times and even briefly visiting a couple of asteroids for a gravity assist, the European Space Agency's comet-chasing spacecraft, Rosetta, is due to 'wake up' on January 20 after 957 days of hibernation. The probe is awakening to prepare for its upcoming and highly-anticipated rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August. The spacecraft was designed to be put in hibernation for the coldest part of the journey that took it close to the orbit of Jupiter, because even with massive solar panels the size of a basketball court, Rosetta would not have enough power to complete its mission without this energy-saving strategy. Once Rosetta enters orbit around the comet — the first time a spacecraft has ever done so — it will map its surface and, three months later in November, deploy the 220-lb (100-kg) Philae lander that will intimately investigate the surface of the nucleus using a suite of advanced science instruments. 'It's the first time we've made a rendezvous with a comet — that's never been done before — and it's going to be the first time we've escorted a comet past its closest approach to the Sun,' says ESA project scientist Matt Taylor."
Nice. We can also see that the submitter claim "briefly visiting a couple of asteroids for a gravity assist" is bunk. The asteroid flybys didn't change the orbit in any useful amount -- only the planet flybys did.
http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/468180main_2_Lutetia_and_Saturn_946-710.jpg
With Saturn hanging in the background. Stunning. It's worth it already!
Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
Only that was what was said. They said they were the same size as a basketball court...
Actually, that's not what they said. They said that the probe would not have been able to power itself even with solar panels the size of a basketball court. It's a hypothetical statement. My car would not be able to lift itself, even if it was filled with hydrogen. This is true, but in saying this, I'm not saying my car is actually filled with hydrogen, just pointing out that it wouldn't have enough lift even if it was.
Granted the way they said it unfortunately implied what you said. But it's not what they actually said.
"Convictions are more dangerous enemies of truth than lies."