Slashdot Mirror
Europe plans comet landing
El Jefe writes "The European space agency has plans to land on (a shoot a harpoon into) a comet. The spacecraft is called Rosetta, and is supposed to rendezvous with the comet Wirtanen in 2012. "
And all this time I thought cheesy Hollywood blockbusters where astronauts landed on asteroids had no scientific basis.
I find it interesting, however, that the spacecraft will secure itself to the comet through the use of a harpoon.
----
Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
Posted by Lord Kano-The Gangster Of Love:
Since we've never been able to study a comet's composition it's still speculation what material makes up most of the mass.
When you breakdown water into hydrogen and oxygen and burn them the exhaust is water. Why waste the energy? Just melt it and try to find a way to get rid of the water before it re-freezes.
As to what they're made of, 20 years ago comets were thought of as "dirty snowballs", 10 years ago some astronomers began to think of them as "snowy dirtballs" who knows what they will think 5 years from now. I suppose that the best thing about this "comet landing" is that we will know FOR SURE what the composition is. Well, at least of this one comet.
LK
If the harpooning is not done automatically but is controlled by folks on the ground, will the controllers saying "Thar she blows!" and calling their chief Captain Ahab?
Call me Ishmael.
Ooh, a sarcasm detector. Oh, that's a real useful invention.
That's total BS. Sorry, but it is!
They are not regular events that can be predicted. They are not something that we know were safe from because it hasn't been 100,000 years yet!
When you get in your car to drive to work, do you say, "The average person only has 3 serious accidents in thier driving carrer, and since that's at LEAST 30 years, that is more than 10 years between accidents. Since I had an accident 3 years ago, I am safe for another 7 years! I can drive how ever I want, and will not get into one."
The fact is, actuary tables (spelling?) show that the most threatening thing to mankinds existance today is a comet/meteor/astorid impact. The probability of it happening, and the damage it could cause are well calculated. And, it is a HUGE risk that people just ignore because they follow your way of thinking about it, which is flawed logic.
One problem is, the US government spending is influenced by the people, and the people all went to see "Star Wars" and think NASA should focus on space travel. It's somewhat short sighted. Trying to figure out a way to populate other planets with people from earth is a very very long and very very expensive process. A true danger that NASA could be working on is to develop a defence against asteroids.
Look at all the craters in the moon. It's evidence that nasty stuff happens. We don't see those craters here on earth, not because they never have hit, but because the rain, weather, wind, etc.. have washed them away. The earth is a bigger target.
Some scientists, even those -outside- the study of space, have started to deticate some of thier time to inform people of these dangers... Kary Mullis comes to mind (he is a Nobel winning chemist, so he is invited to speak at a lot of events. He is asked what he thinks of "global warming" and he acknoledges it, but makes it clear that he does not view it as our biggest threat, because we see it comming, and people can generally adapt pretty well. But, he has started to make a point to talk about dangers of asteroids in every talk he gives, just to spread awareness. And he isn't even an athority on it, just an example, the first person that came into my mind).
Star Trek and Star Wars are good entertainment, but so is Beavis and Buthead, and South Park. Just because thier cool to watch doesn't mean we should try to do what the people in the shows do. Hollywood isn't known for it's accuracy or scientific achievement.
i'm glad all these centuries of whaling technology hasn't gone to waste.
-l
Help cure AIDS, cancer, and more. Donate your unused computer time to worldcommunitygrid.org. Join Team Slashdot!
The problem is "nongravitational accelerations" -- a comet's orbit, unlike most other bodies in the solar system, changes from orbit to orbit. The outgassing provides accelerations that subtly change its orbit. While accelerations so close to aphelion have less effect than if they were near perihelion, they still make it difficult to precisely predict its next orbit. This should only raise a concern if it was already going to be passing close to the Earth in one of its future orbits -- the change is too subtle to cause drastic shifts.
Christopher A. Bohn
cb
Oooh! What does this button do!?
an anchor than a harpoon. This is a harpoon like screw anchors are harpoons. Usually you harpoon something from far away, unless you are playing Ahab riding the whale.
"I want to use software that doesn't suck." - ESR
"All software that isn't free sucks." - RMS
have a look at :t s.html
http://www.mpae.gwdg.de/mpae_projects/mpae_projec
How would they power it? Solar power?
The second "sequel" to 2001: A Space Odyssy features landing on the Halley comet. Guessed right, the next visit is on 2061. Actually, it's one of the best in the series, so go get it if you still haven't read.
You know, according to the "hacker" hype, we have to deal with sci-fi extensively. No problem with me though, I just love sci-fi.
--exa--
The part of the mission I am familiar with is CIVA. This is an instrument on the lander (ROLAND I think) that has an infrared imager and a visible imager (the orbiter also has imagers). The imagers will be used to do spectroscopy on core samples of the comet: the lander will drill a sample from the comet, then illuminate it with light of different wavelength, and image it. This should give spatial information and chemical composition.
Of course, this assumes the spacecraft launches safely, rendezvous with the comet safely, lands safely, the instruments work, the radios work...