Europe's 10-Year Mission To Catch A Comet

Ananova ^ | 1-6-2004

[blam]

Europe's 10-year mission to catch a comet

Europe's mission to land a spacecraft on a comet is set for take-off next month, a year after the project was delayed because of problems with a rocket launcher.

The European Space Agency will propel the Rosetta craft into space on February 26 from a base in Kourou, French Guiana, said Jean-Yves Le Gall, director-general of Arianespace, which made the rocket that will launch the craft.

If the Rosetta mission succeeds, it will break new ground by placing a lander on a swift, icy comet.

Until now, spacecraft only carried out brief fly-bys of comets to take pictures or landed on asteroids, which are more stable.

The mission will be long: Rosetta will not catch up to the 7P/Churymov-Gerasimenko comet until August 2014.

The craft must swing by planets to pick up gravitational boost to speed it along.

The agency had hoped to begin its mission in January 2003. Because of the delay, it dropped plans to target another comet, Wirtanen. Scientists were worried about problems with the Ariane-5 rocket.

Comets formed at the same time as the solar system - 4.6 billion years ago - and contain matter left over from the origin of the sun and planets. More understanding of what they are made of could bring breakthroughs about beginnings of the solar system.

Story filed: 12:08 Tuesday 6th January 2004

[RightWhale]

Comets formed at the same time as the solar system

Also, that is about when this mission was first scheduled for launch. Been a while.

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[doug from upland]

It's not that difficult to catch --

[SamAdams76]

Well at least they still have time to jump on the Bush 2004 bandwagon. Next best thing to jumping on a comet.

[Thebaddog]

The Rosetta will probably end up like the Beagle. This stuff isn't for kids and our Mars lander should tell you that NASA is still the leader of the pack.

[tet68]

August 2014.

Might not be a Euro left by then, the hundredth anniversery
of the beginning of the Great War.

They might all be saying,"Welcome to New Meccaurope".

[sonofatpatcher2]

Re: Rosetta will not catch up to the 7P/Churymov-Gerasimenko comet until August 2014.

That should be about the time Beagle starts sending messages home from Mars...

[tet68]

Considering we will have known more about the composition of a comet for TEN years than they will, IF it works!

Of course all comets are not alike, that is the joy of diversity, and they will probably learn different stuff,
IF IT WORKS!