Posted on 10/28/2020 3:54:31 PM PDT by BenLurkin
The chaotic crash-landing of a robotic spacecraft called Philae has yielded serendipitous insights into the softness of comets.
In 2014, the European Space Agency’s pioneering lander touched down on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, after a ten-year journey aboard its mothership, Rosetta. But rather than fix itself to the surface, Philae bounced twice and ended up on its side under a shady overhang, cutting its mission short.
After a meticulous search, an ESA team has now discovered the previously unknown site of Philae’s second touchdown — and with it an imprint that the craft left in comet ice that is billions of years old.
The imprint has allowed the researchers to measure the strength of ice beneath the comet’s surface — and they discovered that it is exceptionally soft. “It’s softer than the lightest snow, the froth on your cappuccino or even the bubbles in your bubble bath,” says Laurence O’Rourke, an ESA scientist at the European Space Astronomy Centre in Madrid, who led a search to locate the wayward lander, which was found in 2016.
(Excerpt) Read more at nature.com ...
billion dollar oops
Doesn’t the light gravity account for the softness in the surface?
Wow, I didn't know we launched a craft a billion years ago!
That, and probably the sublimation of the ice during the time the comet is being heated by its pass around the Sun.
I blame the Euroweenie sounding name.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.