All About Space - UK (2020-02)

Ask Space

CHEOPS (CHaracterising ExOplanets Satellite) is all ready. It’s all been
tested, and it’s gone through everything that it needs to go through.
It’s going to be launched with an Italian military satellite called
COSMO-SkyMed on either a Vega or Soyuz [rocket], but it’s riding as a
passenger, so we had to wait until COSMO-SkyMed is ready, and then
CHEOPS will go with it.
Early this year is our next launch, the Solar Orbiter, which is a
collaborative mission with NASA, and that will be launched on a
US launcher in February [2020]. It will be going very close to the
Sun, inside the distance of Mercury, and then also a high latitude

looking down ontheSunfromabove,whichisunique.Andthen

we’ve got the JWST,theJamesWebbSpaceTelescope.That’s

coming in 2021,butbeforethatwe’rehopefullygoingtolaunchthe

ExoMars mission,witha rover,toMarsthissummer– soit’sa very

busy year coming.

Of course, youknow,noteverythingwilllaunchontime,but

that’s the planatthemoment.Let’sseehowitworksoutoverthe

next 12 months.

ProfessorMarkMcCaughreanisseniorscience

advisorintheDirectorateofScienceattheESA

Whatwillbethe European Space Agency’s (ESA)nextexcitingmission?

Right: 2I/
Borisov is the
first observed
interstellar
comet and was
discovered in
August 2019

Below:
CHEOPS
will be the
next space
exploration
mission
launched by
the European
Space Agency

“If we observe only

one, it’s always

possible it was a

freak event”

DouglasVakoch

Was ‘Oumuamua a f luke visitor, a unique voyager from beyond our

Solar System, or are there others? Since ‘Oumuamua was identified

as an interstellar traveller in late 2017, it was the first of its kind for

astronomers on Earth. With the discovery of comet Borisov, the club

may have just gotten a whole lot bigger.

Astronomers will have months to observe comet Borisov as it

continues to move towards the Sun and then away. Scientists will get

an accurate fix on its location and trajectory, letting them know with

confidence whether it’s really from outside our Solar System, as initial

data suggests.

If we observe only one interstellar asteroid or comet, it’s always

possible it was a freak event, never to be repeated. But as soon as we

detect a second, we know there’ll soon be many more discoveries.

One of the most daunting obstacles to interstellar panspermia

is having an asteroid or comet for life to tag along with. With the

discovery of Borisov, that challenge seems much less daunting.

Douglas Vakoch is an astrobiologist and

president of Messaging Extraterrestrial Intelligence

(METI) International

Whyisthediscovery of interstellar

comet Borisov so important?

SOLAR SYSTEM

SPACE EXPLORATION

© NASA, ESA

© ESA