The European Space Agency's Rosetta mission
is over, so let's take a moment to highlight
some of what it uncovered about comet 67P before ESA
scientists
intentionally collided the spacecraft with its icy subject.
The ESA's Rosetta mission launched in 2004
and arrived at Comet 67P on August 9, 2014
to become the first spacecraft to orbit a
comet.
Then, on November 12, it touched its lander
Philae down on the surface -- the first successful
comet landing in space exploration history.
Granted, the lander wound up in a less-than
optimal location, lacking sufficient sunlight
or connectivity to Rosetta, but it still provided
surface readings and photos before going dark.
Rosetta itself continued to provide valuable
readings on the comet, including the revelation
that the water in 67P's ice is truly unearthly.
Specifically, the difference boils down to
the comet water's high deuterium-to-hydrogen
ratio, meaning that the water from Earth's
oceans may not stem from primordial comet
bombardments -- a long-held hypothesis.
However, Rosetta's discovery of organic molecules
in 67P bolsters the idea that some of the
rare building blocks of life as we know it
could have arrived on Earth via comet strike.
These are just two findings from Rosetta's
rich spoils of data -- data that scientists
will continue to crunch for months or even
years to come.
Heck, even the craft's final moments produced
up-close-and-personal readings of comet 67P.
See, in hitching a ride on a comet, Rosetta
had been moving farther and farther away from
the sun, recharging its batteries with less
and less solar radiation.
The ESA scientists could have put the craft
in hibernation mode and attempted to stir
it back to life when the comet returns sunward
in 4 or 5 years, but they decided to send
it on a collision course -- a "controlled
descent"
into one of comet 67P's uncharted pits.
The resulting data should also provide us
direct readings of the gasses surrounding
the comet and a better read on its ice particle
loss.
So farewell, Rosetta!
Thanks for all you've done and hopefully it'll
be a long, peaceful ride till your final resting
place collides with another cosmic body.
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wonderful cosmic discoveries?
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