Rosetta, the Comet Hunter

Roland Piquepaille writes: "After being delayed for about a year because of a failure of the Ariane-5 rocket, the Rosetta spacecraft is scheduled to be launched on February 26. Rosetta is a special spacecraft, including an orbiter and a lander. And it will take up to 2014 before landing on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko -- with the help of a harpoon. Then, as says the European Space Agency (ESA), Rosetta will help to solve planetary mysteries. This news release looks at the goals of Rosetta's mission and explains why it will take more than ten years to reach the comet. But here the 'funny' part of the story: the landing. 'In November 2014, the lander will be ejected from the spacecraft from a height which could be as low as one kilometre. Touchdown will be at walking speed, about one metre per second. Immediately after touchdown, the lander will fire a harpoon into the ground to avoid bouncing off the surface back into space, since the comet's extremely weak gravity alone would not hold onto the lander.' This overview contains more details and includes illustrations of the Rosetta's spacecraft and its landing on the comet."

Sounds like how I get dates

[corebreech]

Harpoon... check

Name I can't pronounce... check

10 years before getting some... check

I just have the class not to make a big deal out of it.

Phase 2

[AtariAmarok]

Phase 2 will be sending Bruce Willis and the rest of his rigger pals in their awful corduroy space-suits to "kick comet ass" of all the ones found by Rosetta.

Re:Got some doubt going here...

[Darth23]

That's why they should use Duct Tape instead of a harpoon.

cometing

[Alephcat]

shouldn't this be banned under the international whaleing treaty?

That was no whale!

[AtariAmarok]

"You IDIOT! That was no whale you just harpooned. That was Baron Harkonnen!"

I have doubts

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

And it will take up to 2014 before landing on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko -- with the help of a harpoon.

What makes them think they'll be able to land an unmanned probe on a small rock in deep space that way when here on earth, countless bigger, manned ships have tried the same feat on whales for decades and failed?

They're just gonna kill that poor little comet. For nothing. Just like that. Somebody calls green-piss ferchrissake!

Probe's last words...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Towards thee I roll, thou all-destroying but unconquering comet; to the last I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee. Sink all coffins and all hearses to one common pool! and since neither can be mine, let me then tow to pieces, while still chasing thee, though tied to thee, thou damned comet! Thus, I give up the spear!"

Arrgh! Thar she blows, The White Comet....

[Graemee]

Too bad they didn't call the craft Ishmael or Ahab.

Name of the lander

[I don't want to spen]

I vote we call it YT!

Corset hunter?

[Anonymous Coward]

I initially read this a corset hunter, which piqued my interest.

Then I remembered I was on Slashdot. News for nerds. Since I'm married, I claim that I'm no longer a nerd, just a plain old geek.

Kill it

[mnmn]

So after the lander fires a harpoon, the rigid comet breaks into hundereds of pieces and a single "oops" by mission control will echo around the Houston room.

Whats wrong with superglue? Still stuck with the "lets go GET it" thinking?

Rants aside. I really hope it works, and we get high res public domain pictures of it to make our desktop wallpapers out of.

I wonder if it would be cheap enough to steer the whole comet towards the earth into an orbit, and just bring it right next to the IIS. Spacewalking astronauts could then harpoon it to their hearts content

Re:what the hell?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's not your mother, it's a man, baby!

-- Austin Powers