THE ROSETTA JOURNEY TO THE COMET
Ever wondered what/how life outside earth looked like?? Ever thought of a planet inhabited with creatures( which is equally amazing and terrifying)?? Well, ur questions may soon have its answers. |
| Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko when viewed in 2014 |
Rosetta, a space probe named after a rosetta stone(a stele of egypt) and the philae lander was launched to space in march,2004. Remarkably, this space probe was to spend 12years and 5months in space, with a solemn target of reaching a comet. During its journey to the comet, this space craft flew past mars and the "asteroids 21 lutetia and 2867 steins.
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| A view of planet mars taken by rosetta when being launched in 2004 |
The spacecraft reached the comet on August, 2014. Though with some series of technical maneuvers, it was able to remain in the comet's orbit.. It landed successfully in November but its battery power ran out and communication was briefly restored in July, 2015.
It took about 22minutes to send a command to the space craft and another 22minutes to receive command confirmation and information once it landed. Currently, the Philae lander has shut down with possible hope of activating itself again.
After the ESA's Giotto brought back valuable information from the Halley comet in 1986, it became an utmost Necessity to invest more in this project. Though a staggering billion dollar was spent on this complicated project, it was worth it. As a member of the directive board remarked, he said " if Cristiano Ronaldo cost Madrid 100million dollars, then this project should cost more.
The spacecraft is being controlled from European Space Operations centre(ESOC), in Darmstadt , Germany. Its been estimated that some 2000 people assisted in the mission.
No spacecraft has ever made it this far, which gives you an insight on the continous advancement of technology... Maybe, just maybe someday, we will get to know what is on the other side of the universe.
2 comments :
Wow ... Science great
Thanks a lot
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