This is comet 67P if you dropped it outside LA(hopefully on Kim and Kanye's house). The Europeans plopped a probe on this thing as it flew around at 40,000 mph, 10 times further away from Earth as Mars.....on the first try.
I don't even want to contemplate the math and engineering on that one. The only more impressive accomplishment in space was putting a man on the moon and we did that in 1969, 45 years ago.
While NASA was spending its budget making Muslims feel good about their imaginary contributions to the advancement of western civilization, the Europeans were seeking definitive answers as to the origins of the universe, in ways we've only imagined.
My only question is, why didn't we, the US, land a probe on a comet?
What's the last really great thing America did?
2 comments:
Next summer, the New Horizons probe will pass close by the Pluto/Charon system and proceed into the Kuiper Belt with a possible rendezvous there. The Hubble Space Telescope has spotted several candidates. This will complete American visitation of the nine planets (Pluto has since been downgraded). This mission is comparable in difficulty to the comet landing. By the way, that mission has several American supplied instruments. We currently have spacecraft studying Mercury, Mars (several) and the Saturn system. I could go on.
And no, I'm not satisfied since we should have done more.
Landing on a comet means planetary defense is feasible, since a dimple thruster could now nudge this comet away from a future impact. So, all hail ESA.
Simple thruster. Darn auto correct!
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