Intercepting a Comet

“[T]he sexiest, most fantastic mission ever,” those are the words of an obviously very sexually confused European Space Agency scientist about the Rosetta satellite’s interception and orbiting of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.  The quote comes from Gizmodo’s post about the current successes of the Rosetta satellite exploration mission.

And while the scientist might be sexually confused, thankfully there’s no confusion about the commands and science required to get Rosetta to the comet.  It has been successful, with Rosetta achieving orbit around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 6 Aug., 2014.  Rosetta itself has been trying to catch up with the comet for a little over 10 years, which is a long time for any scientist, sexually confused or otherwise, to wait.

For those who aren’t keeping track, but have some small interest, Rosetta is important in helping us Earthlings understand the state of our Solar System millions of years ago.  The comet it’s now orbiting potentially has information about the building blocks of the Solar System.  The next big step is to get the satellite’s lander, Philae, on to the comet’s surface sometime in November (the ESA are currently aiming for 11 Nov., 2014).  But, right now, the ESA is content with taking readings and images of the comet.

In January 2014, I posted a blurb about how ESA had awakened Rosetta for its approach to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.  That seems like such a long time ago, and now here we are, with Rosetta orbiting the comet.  I’m not going to say it’s sexy, but it is pretty nifty.  I’m not that confused.

If you want to follow the Rosetta satellite’s path, from launch through comet intercept and beyond, you can always go to this website:  http://sci.esa.int/where_is_rosetta/.  It’s just a looping animation of the satellite’s path, and you can witness, virtually, the interception of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko with Rosetta.  Of course, you can read more about Rosetta’s mission on the ESA website, too, which is linked to here.