Rosetta Probe Arrives At Comet 67P
- 10 years ago
After traveling through space for years Europe’s Rosetta Probe has arrived at its destination, comet 67P.
After traveling through space for years Europe’s Rosetta Probe has arrived at its destination, comet 67P.
Said the director of the European Space Agency, "After 10 years, five months and four days travelling towards our destination, looping around the Sun five times and clocking up 6.4 billion km, we are delighted to announce finally 'we are here'."
The probe has become the first craft in history to meet up with a comet.
Both are now about 200 million miles from Earth and travelling at a speed of nearly 35 thousand miles per hour.
Chasing it down was a complicated task requiring several strategic reroutes and delays.
The long journey included a 31-month forced hibernation for Rosetta as a means of saving energy.
Now that it’s met with its target, the Rosetta Probe will spend 15 months examining it with a wide array of instruments.
Scientists consider comets to be of great importance to the study of both space and Earth, as the speeding objects are believed to be key contributors to the building of the Solar System.
It’s also thought that they are what supplied our planet with essential components for the development of life.
After traveling through space for years Europe’s Rosetta Probe has arrived at its destination, comet 67P.
Said the director of the European Space Agency, "After 10 years, five months and four days travelling towards our destination, looping around the Sun five times and clocking up 6.4 billion km, we are delighted to announce finally 'we are here'."
The probe has become the first craft in history to meet up with a comet.
Both are now about 200 million miles from Earth and travelling at a speed of nearly 35 thousand miles per hour.
Chasing it down was a complicated task requiring several strategic reroutes and delays.
The long journey included a 31-month forced hibernation for Rosetta as a means of saving energy.
Now that it’s met with its target, the Rosetta Probe will spend 15 months examining it with a wide array of instruments.
Scientists consider comets to be of great importance to the study of both space and Earth, as the speeding objects are believed to be key contributors to the building of the Solar System.
It’s also thought that they are what supplied our planet with essential components for the development of life.