November 12, 2014

expert reaction to the comet landing mission

The European Space Agency is attempting to land a spacecraft, Philae, on the surface of a comet. A successful landing would be a first for space exploration.

Prof Martin Barstow, Professor of Astrophysics & Space Science, University of Leicester, said:

“The Rosetta mission has been a tremendous adventure for the European Space Agency and the scientists involved. It has already proved to be a scientific success and promises to deliver much more over the next months and years. The riskiest part, landing the Philae spacecraft on the surface of the comet, has never been done before and I would like to send my congratulations for this amazing achievement. We look forward eagerly to the images and scientific results from the lander.”

Prof Jeffrey S. Kargel, Department of Hydrology & Water Resources at the University of Arizona, said:

“The engineering achievement of the Rosetta mission has been nothing short of amazing.  The landscape and complex geology of Comet 67P is way beyond my wildest imagination of what a comet nucleus could look like.  The cratered, fractured, boulder-strewn surface and towering pinnacles of ice attest to tumultuous activity of jetting gases, and solar-heat-driven erosion of ice and collapsing mountains of ice.  These mountains are made of ice as we know it on Earth, but there is also a noxious stew of frozen carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, ammonia, formaldehyde, and methyl alcohol.  Comets are noxious to us, though they are made of the kind of material that may have helped bless Earth with life 4 billion years ago by supplying some of the basic organic compounds and reactive gases that could have helped initiate the first living things on our planet.  It’s a wild little world, and the Rosetta orbiter and its Philae lander have set our eyes and imaginations on this distant land, to explore it like no comet has ever been explored before.  Landing should be taking place right about NOW!”

Dr Jen Gupta, outreach officer at University of Portsmouth Institute of Cosmology, said:

“The European Space Agency Rosetta spacecraft successfully released the Philae lander earlier today for its seven hour freefall descent to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Philae is expected to land on the comet at around 15.35 GMT, however because it is so far away (between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter) it will take the radio signals 28 minutes to get to us on Earth. This means that we are expecting confirmation of the landing at 16.03 at the earliest.

“The mission has had some drama over the past 24 hours. Last night Philae didn’t quite switch on correctly so they had to switch it off and on again! Everything was going well but this morning it was reported that its thruster is out of action, which means that Philae will have to rely on harpoons and ice screws to stay on the surface once it lands. There is still uncertainly over what the surface will be like on landing – it could be hard rock or powdery dust.

“The Rosetta mission was launched in March 2004 and has taken 10 years to get to its destination. It went into orbit around Comet 67P on 6th August 2014, the first time a spacecraft has orbited a comet. Today is the first time that anyone has ever attempted to land a robot on a comet. Comets are essentially dirty snowballs left over from the formation of the solar system and give us an insight into what the solar system was like 4.5 billion years ago when the planets were forming. It is possible that comets brought water to the surface of Earth and possibly even the building blocks of life.

“Rosetta and Philae will help us to understand these icy bodies as they accompany Comet 67P on its journey towards the Sun. You can follow the missions on twitter at @ESA_Rosetta and @Philae2014 and today’s landing attempt on the hashtag #CometLanding.”

Dr. Joel Parker, Alice deputy principal investigator and director of the Southwest Research Institute Planetary Science Directorate, said:

“No matter what happens in the next hour, today will mark a change, a point of reference in the history of space science.  I feel so lucky and honored to be a part of it.”

Prof John Zarnecki, Emeritus Professor of Space Science at the Planetary & Space Sciences Research Institute, The Open University, said:

“I’m currently waiting expectantly at ESOC in Germany for the today’s landing of Philae on comet CG.  I have a strong sense of déjà vu, as I was here in 1986 as Project Manager for one of the instruments on Giotto which spectacularly flew past Halley’s Comet.  Then I was here again in January 2014 as lead scientist for the Surface Science Package where I monitored the dramatic descent and landing of the Huygens Probe onto the surface of Saturn’s largest moon Titan.

“Today I’m hoping to make it third time lucky!  Fingers Crossed!”

Prof Ken Pounds, Emeritus Professor of Space Science and CEO of PPARC from 1994-98, said:

“Rosetta is already a remarkable demonstration of how European capabilities in space science have grown over the 50 years since the formation of the European Space Research Organisation (ESRO) in 1964 – with the UK as primary funder. The UK was also a key player in the foundation of ESA 11 years later (particularly through Michael Heseltine’s role), although – importantly – for a further decade space science continued to be dominated by NASA.

“The current position, in which Europe is a world leader in many areas of space science, has its origins in the decision taken in 1984 (advocated by the UK and Germany) for ESA to set down its long-term science priorities. Under the leadership of Roger Bonnet, the resulting ‘Horizon 2000’ programme transformed Europe from a bit player to a world leader in many areas, including solar physics, cosmology and X-ray Astronomy.

“Rosetta was one of the new missions in the H2000 programme. Against substantial competition, the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council was sufficiently inspired by the technical and scientific challenge of this ‘comet chasing mission’ to approve UK participation in 1996.

“Seeing a comet up-close as it approaches – and then recedes from – the Sun over the next 18 months will be exciting enough. A successful touch down of Philae will be a bonus few would have bet on all those years ago.”

Prof Andrew Coates, Head of planetary science at UCL Mullard Space Science Laboratory, deputy director of MSSL, co-investigator on Rosetta Plasma Consortium

“Excitement is really building now following the successful separation. Over the next few hours, vital measurements and images will be taken by both the orbiter and lander. We’re particularly keen to see if our predictions of nucleus charging are accurate, and to find out more about the plasma environment following our pioneering work with Giotto in 1986 and 1992. But the overwhelming feeling is one of anticipation and hope that 20 years of work on the mission will include a successful landing today.

“ESA just confirmed that telemetry is being received from both lander and orbiter following separation – this is an important step, and there were a tense few minutes awaiting the confirmation.”

Dr David Clements, Astrophysicist at Imperial College London, said:

“Rosetta is a hugely ambitious European mission that already is a great success.  The Philae lander is even more ambitious – a truly mould-breaking endeavour.  Whether the landing is a success or not, to have merely been in a position to attempt it is an astounding achievement.

“I may be an extragalactic astronomer, working on things millions of times further away than Rosetta and comet 67P, but everyone I know, whatever area of astrophysics they work on, has been inspired by what Rosetta is doing.”

Dr Matthew Genge, Senior Lecturer in Earth and Planetary Science at Imperial College London, said:

“If today’s landing goes well, Rosetta will tell us if comets made our planet blue by providing the oceans.

“This is the most difficult landing in space history, like landing a balloon in a city centre on a windy day with your eyes closed.

“Did comets deliver the building blocks of living things and start life on Earth? We may soon know with the help of Rosetta.

“Some scientists gave spent twenty years working on this mission. The fate of all that work lies in the final few seconds of touch down.”

Declared interests

Dr Clements:

“I’m employed by Imperial College London which has a research group, not my own, working on Rosetta; STFC funds my research as it funds Rosetta work; I have worked and am working on other ESA missions; I have a book on Infrared Astronomy about to be released that includes a short section on comets.”