Europe counts down for landing … Rosetta Robot – La Voz de Galicia

Wednesday’s space exploration live one day to the history . Science fiction has become science just when Wednesday afternoon A robot pose for the first time on the surface of a comet in the more complex and risky landing space history. The protagonist is a little ingenuity, named Philae , a little over a hundred kilos of weight with ten scientific instruments onboard able to scrutinize the vast frozen heart rock dubbed Churyumov-Gerasimenko , located 550m away from Earth, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. This is a genuine relic of 4,700 million years that keeps intact its original material, the same bricks the early solar system that were used in its creation. A true treasure chest that can help not only reveal the origin of the formation of the solar system , but also know the origin of life on our planet .

The robot Philae flew aboard the probe Rosetta of the European Space Agency, which last September reached its destination, the orbit of Churyumov-Gerasimenko , after the March 2, 2004 initiate a ten-year 6.500 million kilometers on a long detour before reaching its target because it was the first spacecraft to solar cells used as the sole source of energy. To propel had to give five full turns to the sun and make several passes by Mars and Earth to exploit its severity.

Philae will detach Rosetta at 10:03 minutes in the morning -hour the Peninsular in a decrease in free fall lasting seven hours-and that can be followed live on the website of the ESA -. There is no precedent for this type of maneuver , because, unlike the landings on the moon or Mars, there is hardly on the comet’s gravity and 110 kilos of science module will become only 10 grams .

Landing Agilkia

The robot Philae will rest in an area of ​​the comet has been called Agilkia formerly known as point “J” – chosen by the European Space Agency name after receiving thousands of suggestions. It is a priori less

abrupt and dangerous place of a comet with a nucleus of 4 kilometers in diameter and where more solar radiation is received needed to feed the operation of the mill, which shall be anchored to the surface by a powerful system of harpoons. If anything goes wrong, the mission of Rosetta , until now has been a real success , will start from the time a tour into the unknown. “ We posaremos on a comet which is basically a time machine that holds clues to the composition of the solar system and its origin more than four billion years ago,” explains Fred Jansen, director of the European mission. “All this is new and unique and never been done before . Science fiction may sound, but it is a reality for teams who have devoted their lives to this project, driven to push the boundaries of our technology for the benefit of science and seek answers to the big questions about our origin “apostille Matt Taylor, one of the scientists from the European Space Agency to participate in the program.

The robot Philae will take pictures of the comet and the start his descent and also collect samples of dust and gas . When the probe release its scientific module will be located about 40 kilometers from the comet to avoid rising gas emissions, which increase as the ice cream giant approaches the sun and heat will sublimating ice is formed . Rosetta Rock accompany on this journey towards the Sun , where he will arrive next summer, though the mission will last for a few months.