Theseenigmatic,icytravellersmayhold
thesecrettolifeonEarth.That’swhy
scientistsaredesigninga missionthatwill
paya visittoa comettotakea closerlook...
CHASING
COMETS
FEATURE COMET MISSIONSe’ve come a long way since thinking that comets
were ghostly apparitions in the sky that foretold
disaster and disease. Now we understand that these
mysterious celestial objects are time capsules to
an earlier era in the history of the Solar System.
They can tell us about the days when the planets
were forming. Comets can also reveal some of
the chemical constituents that would have been
present on the early Earth and so could have
contributed to the origin of life.
It’s therefore no surprise that the various space agencies
around the world are keen to explore comets with spacecraft.
Currently under development is Comet Interceptor, which is
due for launch in 2028 and will allow us to inspect these icy
bodies in greater detail. But it’s by no means the first mission
to visit a comet.
In 1986, Europe, the USSR and Japan launched missions to
fly past Halley’s Comet. Of these, the spacecraft that drew the
closest was the Giotto mission, from the European Space 2
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by DR STUART CL ARK