Fwd: ESA lands on Comet

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From: Robert Hooi <rwlh21@sbcglobal.net>
Date: November 12, 2014 11:37:04 AM CST
To: undisclosed recipients: ;
Subject: ESA lands on Comet
Reply-To: Robert Hooi <rwlh21@sbcglobal.net>

ESA lands on Comet - the first ever beats the US. NASA - first ever  - outreach to Muslims!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20MFL9L8KEc

European Philae probe makes historic landing on comet

James Dean, FLORIDA TODAY 12:17 p.m. EST November 12, 2014

A European spacecraft this morning become the first to land on a comet, deploying harpoons and screws to secure its place on the primitive ball of ice and dust 300 million miles from Earth.

At 11:03 a.m. Eastern time, members of the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission team inside a German operations center erupted in celebration upon receiving signals from the 220-pound Philae probe.

It took more than 30 minutes for the spacecraft's signals to travel to Earth from the duck-shaped Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which measures about two-and-a-half miles in diameter.

"We are there and Philae is talking to us," a mission manager told a cheering audience. "We are on the comet."

The landing on a site named Agilkia, softened by three legs, completed Philae's seven-hour, 14-mile descent from ESA's Rosetta satellite, the first to rendezvous with a comet.

Philae was designed to fire two harpoons and drive a screw from each leg, using a small thruster to counter any recoil.

"We are extremely relieved to be safely on the surface of the comet, especially given the extra challenge of the comet's unusual shape and unexpectedly hazardous surface," said Stephan Ulamec, Philae lander manager at the German Aerospace Center. "In the next hours we'll learn exactly where and how we've landed, and we'll start getting as much science as we can from the surface of this fascinating world."

The box-shaped lander equipped with 10 instruments will perform its primary science mission over just a few days, but that work that could be extended for months if batteries hold up.

ESA said the science highlights would include a full panoramic view of the landing site, analysis of the comet's surface materials and drilling for samples.

"Rosetta is trying to answer the very big questions about the history of our Solar System," said Matt Taylor, ESA Rosetta project scientist. "What were the conditions like at its infancy and how did it evolve? What role did comets play in this evolution? How do comets work?"

The Rosetta mission, which includes NASA participation, was launched in March 2004 by an Ariane 5 rocket and traveled nearly 4 billion miles before arriving at comet 67P in August.