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Icy Naj 13 - ESA to probe into 67p washing machine at Comet
Icy North Started conversation Nov 13, 2014
Like me, you may be watching with interest the news reports of that probe landing on the comet, codenamed 67P. At the time of writing, it appears to have landed safely, although it looks like it bounced a couple of times first. If so, I'm looking forward to seeing what the thing's going to do next.
This project has been going for over 20 years, I understand. I guess at the outset they wouldn't have known a lot about the comet they were going to land on. It's only in recent years that we've seen it to be a giant rotating knobbly thing - from one angle it looks like a rubber duck, but I think it's a perfect potato shape. This must have caused an immense amount of replanning, but it seems that their design of this washing-machine-sized craft has been able to cope with all the new complexities they have discovered along the way. Even if the mission achieves little more, it must be seen as a huge triumph for the scientists and engineers involved.
If there's one thing I'd like to ask our h2g2 astronomical experts, it's the claim that comets may once have brought water, and hence the conditions for life to planet Earth in its distant past. How much water can a comet hold? Is it really enough to fill all of Earth's oceans?
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Icy Naj 13 - ESA to probe into 67p washing machine at Comet
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