As a spacecraft enters the orbit of a comet for the first time, a discoverer of the icy goliath tells sk.ru that the feat is sure to reverberate far beyond the scientific community.
A photograph of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken by the Rosetta spacecraft on August 3 at a distance of 285 kilometers. Photo: ESA
The European Space Agency probe Rosetta on Wednesday began its insertion into orbit of the comet known as 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in honor of the two Soviet astronomers who discovered it.
“This is an historic event, of course, not only in science but also in the history of humanity as a whole,” said Klim Churyumov in comments to sk.ru.
Such landmark events happen “once in a thousand years,” he added.
The cosmic rendezvous is occurring 600 million kilometers from the Sun as the comet returns from the outer reaches of the solar system.
The next stage of the mission is in November, when the ESA intends to lower a lander from Rosetta onto the comet’s surface.
Due to the low gravity on the comet, which is about 4 kilometers in diameter, the lander is designed to harpoon itself to the rock. As the comet hurtles toward the sun, the lander will send back high-resolution pictures and other information on the nature of its ices and organic crust.
ESA scientists hope the data will give clues as to the nature of our solar system and possibly the origins of water on Earth.
The comet has been nicknamed “the rubber duck” because of its odd shape, likely caused by a smaller comet crashing into a bigger one.
Churyumov, 77, made the discovery in Kazakhstan in 1969 along with Svetlana Gerasimenko. He is currently the director of the Kiev Planetarium.
In the history of space exploration, the closest interactions that satellites have had with comets and asteroids is fleeting photographs as they speed by; never has a spacecraft settled in its gravitational pull.