‘Wake-Up’ Time For Comet Probe

It’s nearly “make-or-break” time for a high-risk European satellite that has been “asleep” on its way for a close-up look at a comet:

One of the most ambitious missions in the history of space goes into high-risk mode on Monday when Europe rouses a comet-chasing probe from years of hibernation.

“The most important alarm clock in the Solar System” will end the scout Rosetta’s long slumber, gearing it for a historic rendezvous in deep space, the European Space Agency says.

Launched almost a decade ago, Rosetta is a billion-dollar bet to prise open the secrets of comets.

Clusters of ice and dust — which explains their nickname of “dirty snowballs” — comets are believed to be remnants from the very birth of our star system.

“Unlocking these time capsules, looking at the gas, the dust and particularly the ice they’re made of, provides great clues to the origin of our Solar System and, potentially, even of life,” said astrophysicist Mark McCaughrean.

“This time capsule has been locked for 4.6 billion years. It’s time to unlock the treasure chest.”

To team up with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Rosetta was launched in 2004 on a trek of seven billion kilometres (4.3 billion miles) around the inner Solar System.

By: dave-dr-gonzo

David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.

* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.