According to the European Space Agency (ESA), the Rosetta spacecraft’s Philae probe had detected the presence of organic molecules on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Philae’ instruments caught a whiff of carbon and hydrogen, the building blocks of life, before entering a permanent slumber caused by the probe’s inability to capture the necessary sunlight needed to recharge its batteries; while the landing may be hailed as one of man’s greatest technological accomplishments, it was not without its complications.
The discovering is not in of itself surprising, as scientists have already detected traces of organic matter in material shed by comets, but never on-site. Scientists are currently analyzing and consolidating the data to determine if the organic traces are simple ones, such as methane and methanol, or more complex specimens such as amino acids. They have not yet disclosed any specifics.
Recall that most comets were created 4.5 billion years ago during the materialization of our solar system and are formed from the same residual dust, ice, and gas that consolidated into planets, so it’s not unrealistic to believe that comets contain some of the most pristine materials in the entire solar system. Scientists believe that studying comets could hold a clue to how life may spawn across the Universe.
The specimen was extracted using the Cosac instrument, a device built by the DLR German Aerospace Center that “sniffs” the comet’s thin atmosphere. Another instrument — the Mupus instrument — discovered that a layer of hard ice/water is situated beneath a 10-20cm layer of dust; it was unable, howver, to drill and obtain a soil sample before Philae’s battery died out.
Scientists remain optimistic that the comet’s trajectory may eventually place Philae’s solar panels in contact with illumination to kickstart the probe back into life, even from its current obfuscated position. There’s a finite amount of time to obtain the necessary sunlight before rising temperatures overheat the probe and completely destroy it. Professor Mark McCaughrean, senior science adviser to the ESA, states that the probes immediate position beneath the shadow of a cliff may actually delay the overheating and extend Philae’s window of opportunity, “it might even help us, that we might not get so hot, even at full solar illumination. But if you don't get so hot that you don't overheat, have you got enough solar power to charge the system?”
Philae worked for upward of 60 hours before it died like an overworked salaryman.
Source: WSJ
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