Another giant step for mankind…
THE successful landing of a spacecraft on the surface of a speeding comet on Wednesday will definitely go down as one of mankind’s greatest feats ever.
It’s mind-boggling just thinking of the fact that man could have developed the technology to send a craft into space 10 years ago, have it slingshot three times around Earth and once around Mars, so it could work up enough speed to chase a comet travelling at approximately 41,000 mph.
In fact, the historic nature of the achievement can only be eclipsed by the data that the craft, named by its European scientist designers as ‘Philae’, will provide from the comet named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
For that data, scientists hope, will give man a better understanding of the origins of comets — celestial bodies that have long piqued the interest of humans.
Astronaut Mr John Grunsfeld, who is now associate administrator for science at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), was correct in his assessment of the impact of the landing. The information collected, he said, “will provide the scientific community, and the world, with a treasure trove of data”.
Mr Mark McCaughrean, a senior scientific adviser to the mission, agreed, saying that by studying one of the trillion or so comets in our solar system in enormous detail “we can hope to unlock the puzzle of all of the others”.
Yesterday, the Associated Press reported Klim Churyumov — one of the two astronomers who discovered the comet in 1969 — as saying that the insight gleaned will give researchers the opportunity to test the theory that comets brought organic matter and water to Earth billions of years ago, giving them a key role in the evolution of life on our planet.
We are told that Philae and its mother ship, named Rosetta, will accompany the two-and-a-half-mile-wide comet as it races past the sun and becomes increasingly active in the rising temperatures.
Scientists have also reported that both spacecraft will use 21 different instruments to take 3-D images, analyse the comet’s chemical composition and electrical properties, and probe its internal structure with low-frequency radio signals.
Although the mission has suffered a bit of a setback with the spacecraft landing next to a cliff, thus blocking sunlight for its solar panels, the data it has provided thus far will prove invaluable to science.
And, the fact that the craft is in good working order, after bouncing twice before landing, is indeed encouraging.
The scientists at the European Space Agency, who pulled off this feat deserve the world’s heartiest congratulations. Here’s hoping that the slight hiccup now affecting the mission will cease, and allow us to learn more about our universe and the benefits that further space exploration holds for mankind.