Scientists chose the landing site for the machine Rosetta
Spacecraft "Rosetta" will try to send a comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko probe "Philae" to take soil samples. Staff at the European Space Agency chose the relatively flat portion of the surface of the comet, named after the scientists who discovered it in 1969 - Klim Churyumov and Svetlana Gerasimenko. According to experts, to carry out the landing on the comet's surface will not be easy. Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which hurtles through space at a distance of 440 million km from the Earth, - irregular shape, and even on the flat surface of the can is potentially dangerous boulders and cracks. According to preliminary data, the probability of a successful landing is 70-75%. According to the plan, the probe "Rosetta" must land on a comet on 11 November. "Rosetta" send probe "Philae" comet at a distance of about 10 kilometers. Device, its appearance resembling a spider will move over the surface "at a walking pace."
"Philae" will cling to the surface of the comet with the screws and harpoons - on the comet is very small gravitational pull. distance from the Earth to "Rosetta" is so great that operational control of the spacecraft and the probe "Philae" is impossible, and the whole operation "landing" on the comet 67P will be held in the automatic mode, the last team "Rosetta" and "Philae" will give a few days before the operation. Landing probe "Philae" discussed at the weekend in Toulouse. Scientists and engineers in a few weeks studying "ice mountain", also known as the comet, in search of a relatively flat area, for which they will be able to land a robot.
Among the five potential sites for planting now there are only two - the main and spare. Over the coming weeks, the researchers will decide which one is more appropriate, and take a final decision in mid-October. entire process of separation, descent and landing, is expected to take seven o'clock. If "Philae" successfully sit on the surface of the comet, it will be a historic moment in space exploration. "Philae" is equipped with a drill, the robot will be able to take soil samples from a comet in his laboratory. "If we get a few measurements and a few samples, it will be a success," - says Dan-Pierre Bibring, one of the leading researchers in this project.
But regardless of whether the landing will take place successfully or not, "Rosetta" will follow the comet Churyumov -Gerasimenko at least for a year. Machine receives the image of the comet, the surface of which, as it approaches the sun will evaporate the ice, throwing gas flows and a huge cloud of dust into space.
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