Touchdown! Rosetta lands on comet

[Highlander89]

For the first time in human history, a probe has landed on a comet!

Read more here

“Rosetta is trying to answer the very big questions about the history of our Solar System. What were the conditions like at its infancy and how did it evolve? What role did comets play in this evolution? How do comets work?” said Matt Taylor, ESA Rosetta project scientist.

 

[tinytomlogan]

So shes not just good at teaching languages then....?

 

[Highlander89]

So shes not just good at teaching languages then....?

A woman of many talents

This gives a whole new meaning to the Tool song Rosetta Stoned:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZXJLQntCP0

 

[Master&Puppet]

Confirmation this morning that the probe did manage to stabilise onto the comet's surface after data showed that the latching harpoons failed to fire.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30034060

I think this is fascinating and very exciting and not at all a meagre achievement for just £1bn.

 

[Dicehunter]

Confirmation this morning that the probe did manage to stabilise onto the comet's surface after data showed that the latching harpoons failed to fire.

http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30034060

I think this is fascinating and very exciting and not at all a meagre achievement for just £1bn.

So we send probes to the moon to look at rocks, We send probes out to other planets to examine rocks and now we fired a probe at 1 massive rock to look at, Wait for it, MORE ROCKS !

 

[Highlander89]

So we send probes to the moon to look at rocks, We send probes out to other planets to examine rocks and now we fired a probe at 1 massive rock to look at, Wait for it, MORE ROCKS !

The aliens are hiding under the rocks, duh

 

[barnsley]

A bit more detail about it's mission:

It will take pictures of the cometscape and analyse the surface chemical composition to test several hypotheses about the origins of life and the universe.

One theory holds that comets were responsible for delivering water to the planets. Another idea is that they could have "seeded" the Earth with the chemistry needed to help kick-start life.

Its pretty impressive its been done on the budget it has IMO.