Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
Spacewatch: ESA greenlights Comet Interceptor mission
Spacecraft will travel to an as-yet unidentified comet and map it in three dimensions
Stuart Clark
@DrStuClark
Thu 27 Jun 2019 16.30 EDT
The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected a comet interceptor for the first of its new class of “fast” missions.
These must launch within eight years of selection and weigh less than 1,000kg so they can hitchhike into space on an already scheduled launch.
Comet Interceptor will use a central spacecraft and two smaller probes to travel to an as-yet unidentified comet and map it in three dimensions. Comets are ancient objects that preserve information about the formation of the solar system 4.6bn years ago.
Previous missions have studied comets that are trapped in short-period orbits around the sun and so have been significantly altered by the sun’s light and heat. Comet Interceptor will target a pristine comet on its first approach to the sun. To be ready, the mission will launch in 2028 alongside the Ariel space telescope – the ESA’s mission to study the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/jun/27/spacewatch-esa-greenlights-comet-interceptor-mission
