In an historic first, Europe's Rosetta probe has commenced a powered orbit around a comet after a 10-year chase.
The spacecraft fired its thrusters for six and a half minutes to finally catch up with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Mission controllers had to wait an agonising 22 minutes to know that the manoeuvre had worked.
One scientist said the journey was the "most complex and exotic trajectory that we have ever seen".
"It's fantastic!" said Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of the European Space Agency (Esa).
"It looks easy, but it looks easy because of the fantastic sum of expertise behind it.
"This is Christmas every day!"
Launched on board an Ariane rocket in March 2004, Rosetta has taken a long route around our Solar System to catch up with comet 67P.
Deep sleepIn a series of fly-pasts, the probe used the gravity of the Earth and Mars to increase its speed during the 6 billion km chase.
Please turn on JavaScript. Media requires JavaScript to play.
Science Editor David Shukman explains Rosetta's mission
To save energy, controllers at the European Space Agency's centre in Darmstadt, Germany put Rosetta into hibernation for 31 months.
In January they successfully woke the craft from its slumber as it began the final leg of the daring encounter.
For the past two months Rosetta has been carrying out a series of manoeuvres to slow the probe down.
The comet is travelling at 55,000km per hour (34,175 mph). The spacecraft's speed has been adjusted so that in relative terms it will be flying beside the comet at a slow walking pace of 1m/sec (2.2mph, 3.6kph).
At around 550m km distance from the Earth, messages are taking over 22 minutes to get to Rosetta.
The distances involved are so great that the complex final command sequence for the latest thruster burn had to be issued on Monday night.
Project scientist, Dr Matt Taylor, said: "For me this is the sexiest, most fantastic mission there's ever been. It's ticking a number of boxes in terms of fascination, exploration, technology and science - predominantly science."
- Total cost of the mission is said to be 1.3bn euros
- The probe weighed in at 3,000kg at liftoff back in 2004, with over half of that made up of propellant
- It has two 14m long solar panels to provide electrical power
- The orbiter carries 11 experiments
- The lander, Philae, carries nine experiments including a drill to sample beneath the surface
The gravity of 67P is thought to be weak so Rosetta will have to continue to fire its thrusters every few days to maintain a triangular orbit at 100km above the rotating rock.
Continue reading the main storyThe craft will then travel alongside the comet for the next 15 months, studying it with a range of instruments.
Rosetta has been taking increasingly detailed photographs of 67P as it gets closer. The mysterious comet has been dubbed the "rubber duck", as some images seem to show the familiar shape as it twirls in space.
Harpooning a cometAs it moves towards the Sun, 67P will warm up and its trailing halo of gas and dust - known as the coma - will increase, offering the orbiter the chance to do some detailed scientific work.
The mission gets even more ambitious in November when, after moving Rosetta closer to 67P, mission controllers will attempt to put the Philae lander on the surface.
The lander will use harpoons to anchor itself and will carry out a series of experiments, including drilling into the material that makes up the comet.
The mission will aim to add significantly to our knowledge of comets and their role in ferrying the building blocks of life around the early Solar System.
Already Rosetta has learned some intriguing details about 67P.
Using the visible, infrared and thermal imaging spectrometer, VIRTIS, Rosetta recorded temperatures on the icy object around -70C, about 20 degrees warmer than expected.
"This result is very interesting, since it gives us the first clues on the composition and physical properties of the comet's surface," says principal investigator of the VIRTIS instrument, Dr Fabrizio Capaccioni from INAF-IAPS, Rome, Italy.
Some experts have speculated that the surface is very dusty, except at the neck where the two parts of the comet connect.
Scientists will be eagerly looking forward to seeing the first high resolution images from Rosetta as it closes in on 67P.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Rosetta: 'We're at the comet!'
Dengan url
https://gayabugarsehat.blogspot.com/2014/08/rosetta-were-at-comet.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Rosetta: 'We're at the comet!'
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Rosetta: 'We're at the comet!'
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar