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tahanson43206

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Registered: 2018-04-27

Posts: 17,051

Comet Probe to Lie in Wait

A number of NewMars members hail from the UK ...

The article at the link below reports on a successful bid by a UK company to build a probe to study a comet.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/britain-buil … 36624.html

Britain is to build a “comet chaser” spacecraft to help find the origins of the universe and life on earth. The mission, to boldly go where no probe has gone before, will track and travel to an as-yet unidentified comet and map it in 3D for the first time.

Once in space the craft will lie in wait, potentially for years, until a cosmic candidate is spotted by astronomers on Earth.

From there it will set out to intercept it, deploying two smaller probes which will take readings and beam the data back to the main hub.

Though the process could only take a few hours, it is thought to shed light on the conditions in our universe more than four billion years ago.

The Telegraph understands that numerous countries applied to run the project and it is viewed by officials as a major coup for the UK scientific community.

This topic is available for news of progress in development of the probe, launch, deployment to wait for an opportunity, and then the adventure itself.

(th)

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 28,832

Re: Comet Probe to Lie in Wait

This would be a worth while probe to study the beginnings of the solar clouds left overs....

Is there a name for the mission or probe....

edit
found this U.K. to Build Spacecraft to Chase, Map Comet From Distant Space

Thales Alenia Space, with three sites in the U.K., have won the contract to design and build the mother ship for the European Space Agency’s 150 million-euro ($182 million) Comet Interceptor mission, the U.K. Space Agency said on Monday in an emailed statement.

Attempting to 3d map....