Weblog
10 November 2014
This week the Rosetta probe will launch Philae to land on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Will probably be the primary delicate touchdown on a comet, however not the primary probe to land on one other world. Apart from our homeworld, people have walked on the floor of 1 different physique and landed probes on 5. If profitable Philae will mark the sixth photo voltaic system object we’ve landed upon.
The Moon was the primary celestial physique we landed on. The Soviet Union’s Luna 2 efficiently impacted the lunar floor in 1959, and by 1966 Luna 9 made the primary delicate touchdown on the Moon. By 1969 america efficiently landed Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin as the primary people to stroll upon one other world. It was quickly adopted by 5 different manned missions. Since then there have been numerous lander and orbiter missions to the Moon, the newest being China’s Chang 3 rover mission.
The primary profitable touchdown on Mars was achieved with the U.S. Viking 1 mission in 1975. It was quickly adopted by Viking 2. These missions have been the primary efforts to find life on one other planet. In 1996 Pathfinder marked the primary rover on Mars. At the moment the Curiosity rover continues that custom. Europe, Russia and India have all had profitable mission to the Crimson Planet.
1975 additionally marked the primary touchdown on Venus with the Soviet landers Venera 9 and 10. There have been a number of flyby missions and some orbital missions since then, however the Veneras mark the one profitable landings on Venus. Given the acute temperatures and pressures of the planet’s floor, that’s not fully sudden.
In January of 2005 the Huygens probe entered the environment of Saturn’s moon Titan. It landed on the moon’s floor about two and a half hours later, sending pictures and information again to the Cassini orbiter, which relayed the information to Earth. Although a lot colder, the floor and climate of Titan is considerably just like Earth’s, with lakes and seasonal modifications. They’re simply lakes and clouds of methane and ammonia relatively than water. Titan marks essentially the most distant world we’ve ever landed upon.
Later that very same 12 months Japan’s Hayabusa probe landed on the asteroid 25143 Itokawa. The objective of the mission was to collect samples of the asteroid for return to Earth. The pattern mission failed, however mud captured by the probe was efficiently returned to Earth in 2010.
Now this week we’ll at a comet to this listing. It’s fairly wonderful when you consider it. We people are usually not sure to our homeworld. We’ve begun to step out into area, and our efforts are getting higher and extra widespread.
Rating one for the people.
