BERLIN GERMANY
How do you land a spacecraft on a comet that is streaking by at 66,000 kilometres per hour?
That’s a problem scientists have been grappling with for more than a decade as they prepare for one of the most audacious space adventures ever — the European Space Agency’s attempt to land a scientific probe on the giant ball of ice and dust known as 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
They’ll find out on Wednesday whether their plan will work when the agency’s mission control centre in Darmstadt, Germany, gives its unmanned Rosetta space probe the final go-ahead to drop a lander on the comet.
The event marks the climax of Rosetta’s decade-long journey to study the icy celestial bodies that have long fascinated humanity. Scientists hope that the data collected by Rosetta and its sidekick lander, Philae, will provide insights into the origins of comets and other objects in the universe.
On Tuesday, the agency announced that systems aboard the Philae lander had failed to switch on properly at first. Fearing a cosmic calamity, scientists tried a reboot. “The lander successfully powered up, and preparations are now continuing as planned,” the agency said on its website.
The hitch demonstrates how much can still go wrong with the $1.62 billion mission conceived more than two decades ago.
On Wednesday, Rosetta will execute a series of complicated manoeuvres to reach the optimum drop-off point. About 0835 GMT (1:35pm PST), the lander will separate from the mother ship and begin its seven-hour descent to the comet.
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