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“The module Philae Rosetta must be separated at the time, spatial position, orientation and precise speed <[endif]>. It is a great challenge in the field of space travel. ” So says Andrea Accomazzo, flight director of the European space mission, the principle of the risky operation that will try tomorrow to place the small module on the surface of the nucleus of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It will be the culmination of an adventure already considered historic because so far everything has gone well since this unmanned spacecraft left Earth 10 years ago to catch a kite.
Just the fact that engineers and Scientists controlling Rosetta from Europe have managed to take three months accompanying the comet in its orbit around the sun, a few kilometers away, taking data without sustaining damage when crossing the comma is a success. The pictures you are sending this irregular celestial body in permanent rotation, which is not observed by the expected ice anywhere, are spectacular. The decline of Philae to the surface and months of data collection from there if all goes well to, but Rosetta will observe the comet up within a year as it approaches the Sun and then walks away.
decrease takes seven hours and is passive, explains Accomazzo. Only touching the surface, whose mechanical characteristics are unknown, several mechanisms are activated. Each of the three legs of a drill that will penetrate the soil activated by the impact. At the same time, two spears that can penetrate up to two meters, while a small rocket is turned to press the module onto the surface until it is anchored loosen. It is hoped that this combination of actions will prevent the rebound module, since the gravitational attraction of the comet, which is about four kilometers long, is very low.
The landing is the most risky phase of the entire operation, so irregular terrain as it will Philae to their design limits. “We are tired but ready,” said Accomazzo Friday.
“Hundreds of people now work in Rosetta we are under great stress,” also recognized Fred Jansen, project manager at the European Agency Area (ESA), who wants to emphasize that since he began to think of the mission are thousands of scientists and engineers involved, developing, among other things, the 11 instruments carried Rosetta and Philae bearing 10 through pan-European consortia that participated Spain.
“We flew at 55,000 kilometers per hour, usually between 7 and 20 km altitude, on a comet, a time machine that contains data on the composition of the Solar System in origin, some 4,000 million years ago, “recalls Jansen. “The landing had to decide in just six weeks after reaching the comet and on the observations of the ship itself. This is a first as well.” For landings on Mars, for example, it can take years to decide where and is done on pre-mission concerned data.
From an orbit 30 km ship descend abruptly morning Philae drop and then begin a series of maneuvers to get two hours, see the module continuously and relay data to Earth while descending. In an age of instant communication, the danger of thinking that the maneuver will be broadcast live in running. Not so, among other things, the time lag, the time it takes to get a signal from Rosetta to Earth tomorrow will be 28 minutes and 20 seconds, since the distance is about 511 million kilometers. However, the ESA has made great efforts to communicate and to trace the main stages of the first landing on a comet.
“We have 10 years of mission and have had few problems with technology” Jansen explains. “However, 20 years began to design and build made and sturdy and well proven components are used, so we can say that the computer is in the eighties.” They are 30 years in a field that has advanced very quickly and you will notice the arrival of the data. In terms of scientific production, mission leaders estimate that 80% correspond to the Rosetta spacecraft itself and only 20% to Philae, but this part can be very important to know what a comet. “If we fail at landing could not be considered a failure,” says Jansen.
Previous Missions
Europe has been a pioneer in exploring comets. In 1986, ESA’s Giotto probe approached 600 km of the nucleus of comet Halley and sent images and information, although its main camera was damaged by dust. Then he went on his mission to get close to just 200 miles from the comet Grigg-Skjellerup and confirm that comets are not dirty snowballs that previously assumed.
Meanwhile, NASA were three missions to comets. Deep Space 1 was approached in 2001. Stardust Borelly sent back samples from the coma of Wild 2 in 2006 and then went to Tempel 1 and Deep Impact fired a copper block in the nucleus of Tempel 1 to study the ejecta, before approaching Hartley and ISON.
On and asteroids have been successful landings. The Japanese spacecraft Hayabusa about Itokawa in 2005 and the NASA Dawn mission to Vesta.
Chronology of descent (Spanish time)
A signal takes 28 minutes and 20 seconds to reach Earth from Rosetta
Separation 10.03 hours / 17.00 Landing
Detailed Chronology
Track decrease
Público.es
ESA
Rosetta Blog
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