Learn more about comets, specifically if the lander works, their material makeup.This sounds like a highly geeky, highly cool experiment, but can someone tell me what the actual scientific benefit of it is?
This:This sounds like a highly geeky, highly cool experiment, but can someone tell me what the actual scientific benefit of it is?
What are the mission’s objectives?
Rosetta's prime objective is to help understand the origin and evolution of the Solar System. The comet’s composition reflects the composition of the pre-solar nebula out of which the Sun and the planets of the Solar System formed, more than 4.6 billion years ago. Therefore, an in-depth analysis of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by Rosetta and its lander will provide essential information to understand how the Solar System formed.
There is convincing evidence that comets played a key role in the evolution of the planets, because cometary impacts are known to have been much more common in the early Solar System than today. Comets, for example, probably brought much of the water in today's oceans. They could even have provided the complex organic molecules that may have played a crucial role in the evolution of life on Earth.
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Frequently_asked_questions
I have always wondered about comets being the possible source of water on earth. Is there not quite a lot of water here? might it have needed a lot of comets, or fewer but massive ones?
I have always wondered about comets being the possible source of water on earth. Is there not quite a lot of water here? might it have needed a lot of comets, or fewer but massive ones?
Further to Editor's answer in post 93, every ambitious mission like this furthers our knowledge and skills on space exploration, which can only be a good thing and will be extremely useful in the future, when space travel might become a necessity or even a lifeline for mankind. Just as many other ventures have been in the past. Only by pushing ourselves and our quest for knowledge have we advanced as a species.This sounds like a highly geeky, highly cool experiment, but can someone tell me what the actual scientific benefit of it is?
Further to Editor's answer in post 93, every ambitious mission like this furthers our knowledge and skills on space exploration, which can only be a good thing and will be extremely useful in the future, when space travel might become a necessity or even a lifeline for mankind. Just as many other ventures have been in the past. Only by pushing ourselves and our quest for knowledge have we advanced as a species.
I'm just sorry we won't be around to see the unimaginable discoveries and advances we will make in the next few centuries. But far better than doing nothing and stagnating as a species.
Do you reckon humanity will be around in a few centuries? I don't.
Those pictures are absolutely stunning!Look at these amazing images from 10km!
http://astronomynow.com/2014/11/11/top-ten-rosetta-images-from-10km/