Rosetta comet-chaser set to land probe on comet in November

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This is as exciting as the second Mars landing. Fingers crossed!

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27517090

Rosetta comet-chaser completes 'big burn'


Europe's comet-chaser Rosetta has taken a big step towards making its historic rendezvous with a 4km-wide ball of ice and rock in early August.

Controllers confirm the spacecraft conducted a major orbit manoeuvre on Wednesday without incident.

The near-eight-hour thruster burn was designed to slow the satellite's speed relative to Comet 67P/C-G.

More adjustments are required, but the operation was a significant event in ensuring Rosetta (http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/) meets its target.

The pair are roughly 500 million km from Earth and separated by about a million km, and closing.

[cwolff]

This is as exciting as the second Mars landing. Fingers crossed!

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-27517090

Rosetta comet-chaser completes 'big burn'

That's pretty cool. It sounds like shooting a bullet in flight with a pellet.

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That's pretty cool. It sounds like shooting a bullet in flight with a pellet.

If successful we not only learn more about our Solar System, but the Universe in general, not to mention how to successfully intercept objects at great distances.

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I say we... Props go to the European Space Agency on this one.

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Rosetta Probe Philae Discovers Organic Molecules (http://www.ibtimes.com/comet-landing-2014-rosetta-probe-philae-discovers-organic-molecules-report-1725228)



The Philae probe (http://www.ibtimes.com/comet-landing-2014-rosetta-probe-philae-discovers-organic-molecules-report-1725228#) was powered down earlier than expected, but not before an instrument discovered an organic compound that was first detected in the comet’s atmosphere, the Wall Street Journal (http://online.wsj.com/articles/rosetta-probe-directly-discovers-organic-molecules-on-comet-1416256078) exclusively reported Monday. The find is extraordinary considering the organic compound contains the carbon atom, which is the basis of life on planet Earth.


Further research is being conducted to see if there are complex compounds like amino acids or simple ones like methane and methanol, considered “building blocks” for proteins.


The research “will help us to understand whether organic molecules were brought by comets to the early earth,” Stephan Ulamec, the Philae’s landing manager said, according to the Journal.



http://s1.ibtimes.com/sites/www.ibtimes.com/files/styles/v2_article_large/public/2014/11/15/comet.jpg?itok=SyymyvzJ

A probe named Philae is seen after it landed safely on a comet, known as 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, in this CIVA handout image released Nov. 13, 2014. Reuters/ESA Handout

European Space Agency (http://www.ibtimes.com/comet-landing-2014-rosetta-probe-philae-discovers-organic-molecules-report-1725228#) (ESA) said the probe fell into hibernation after it only got 1.5 hours of light a day instead of the expected seven (http://ibtimes.com/philae-probe-powered-down-indefinitely-after-landing-issues-comet-darkness-1724766). Even though Philae “fell silent,” it was still able to send the information it retrieved while it was functioning -- that’s how the organic compound discovery was found.


“Prior to falling silent, the lander (http://www.ibtimes.com/comet-landing-2014-rosetta-probe-philae-discovers-organic-molecules-report-1725228#) was able to transmit all science data gathered during the First Science Sequence,” Ulamec said. “This machine performed magnificently under tough conditions, and we can be fully proud of the incredible scientific success Philae has delivered.”


Before it went idle, Philae conducted 60 hours of work on Comet 67P, The Conversation (http://theconversation.com/explainer-what-philae-did-in-its-60-hours-on-comet-67p-34289) said. One of its missions was to ascertain if complex organic molecules, which could have helped create Earth billions of years ago, existed on comets.


Philae’s landing was not only historical, but also a hit on social media. Philae’s monumental landing arguably overshadowed reality star Kim Kardashian’s nude photos (http://ibtimes.com/comet-landing-not-kim-kardashian-nude-photo-shoot-broke-internet-1724325) from Paper magazine, even though the starlet intended to “break the internet.” Data showed more people talked about Philae’s landing by nearly 170,000 tweets, the Journal (http://www.ibtimes.com/comet-landing-not-kim-kardashian-nude-photo-shoot-broke-internet-1724325) wrote in another article, citing Topsy. There were 479,434 tweets in 24 hours about the comet landing, while Kardashian had 307,782 mentions in the same time period.

Besides being the amazing accomplishment that it is that people are talking about it more than Kardshian's ass restores my faith in humanity.

[Gelston]

Rosetta Probe Philae Discovers Organic Molecules (http://www.ibtimes.com/comet-landing-2014-rosetta-probe-philae-discovers-organic-molecules-report-1725228)



Besides being the amazing accomplishment that it is that people are talking about it more than Kardshian's ass restores my faith in humanity.

What about all the poor people who starved and don't have places to live in Europe that could have been helped by the money spent on this?