Perhaps nothing can quench boundless human curiosity and enthusiasm
other than the amazing feats of science that enamour inquisitive mind. The
incredible power of science bestowed wings to power of imagination and
creativity of mankind ushering them into a new world of exciting innovations
and discoveries. As a matter of fact the exhilarating and imagination defying
feats space explorations send shudders of excitement that enthral science
enthusiasts and researchers as well.
European Space Agency’s (ESA) space craft Rosetta added a new
chapter in the illustrious human space explorations. It created a buzz in the
scientific community by waking up to a preset alarm after 31 months of
hibernation to begin its rendezvous in space with the comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
The comet is named after its discoverers Klim Churyumov and Svetlana
Gerasimenko who first indentified it in September 1969. After 10 years five
months and four days and orbiting around Sun for five times traversing a
distance of 6.4 billion kilometres Rosetta is now orbiting its destination.
Rosetta is a robotic spacecraft launched on March 2004 by the
Ariane 5 rocket. It has two main elements: the Rosetta Space probe orbiter
which harbours 12 instruments and Philae, a robotic lander with additional 5
instruments. It is designed to both
orbit and land on the comet to have the most detailed study of comet. During
its 10 year long voyage it made three flybys of earth and one flyby of Mars in
2007. It has passed by two asteroids: 2867 Steins in 2008 and 21 Lutetia in
2010. The spacecraft entered deep space hibernation mode when instruments have
been powered down to conserve energy in June 2011. It was programmed to remain
in that state till 20th Jan 2014 when the hibernation exit was initiated.
All the operations are controlled from the European Space Operations Centre
(ESOC) Darmstadt, Germany.
For the past two months the speed of the space craft has been
scaled down so that it can fly beside the comet at a slow walking pace of
1mt/sec. Comet 67P as visualised from Rosetta, resembles a black duck shaped
rock of 3.5km width and 4 km length. Rosetta would fire thrusters every few days
to remain in a triangular orbit 100 km from the Comet. It would travel alongside
the Comet for 15 months and would study the Comet with the instruments on board.
The mission would take an interesting turn in November when attempts for harpooning
would begin to put the lander Philae on the surface of the comet. Philae is
then assigned with the task of anchoring itself on the surface and drill through
the comet.
Comets are the small icy bodies which originate either in the
Oort Cloud that exist far beyond the orbit of the Pluto or from the Kuiper Belt
located beyond the orbit of Neptune and releases gas or dust. When comets pass
close to the sun they get heated up and begin to outgas thus displaying visible
atmosphere or Coma and sometimes a tail. Usually the dust consists of ice, carbon
dioxide, ammonia, methane and more. Scientists believe that comets might have
brought water and other organic molecules to earth which led to initiation of
life on earth. Comet 67 P are believed to have originated from Kuiper belt and
is controlled by Jupiter’s gravity and belongs to Jupiter Family Comets.
The enticing analysis of the comet dust brought by the
Stardust mission of NASA in 2006 revealed presence of several interesting molecules
and an amino acid Glycine, an important component of many enzymes, receptors
and DNA. Amino acids can be right-handed or left-handed. But left-handed amino
acids are alone used in life on earth. Hence analysing the composition of
comets can provide an answer or give a hint about the origin of life on earth
and the ingredients of life which might have been brought to earth from
extra-terrestrial space. Thus, this mission is extraordinary for its miraculous
adventures in space and for overwhelming exhilaration it is set to generate.
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