Nov. 11 – Tomorrow is the day the first landing on a comet in human history will take place. The Rosetta probe of the European Space Agency was launched more than ten years ago, on March 2, 2004, and tomorrow it will finally begin its descent phase onto comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko, thanks to its Philae lander. Italy plays a leading role in the mission via the Italian Space Agency, the National Institute for Astrophysics (INAF), Thales Alenia Space (Finmeccanica Group) and Selex Ex Finmeccanica. “It will be a very emotional moment. I will be at ESA’s control center in Darmstadt to follow the action. For the past 20 years, scientists have been working towards this very specific moment. For now we know that the surface of 67P is covered with dust, rocks and ice. But we have no idea of its consistency. We know it is porous and lightweight. If we were to put it in water, the comet would float,” said in an interview with Gazzettino di Padova, C. Barbieri, Professor Emeritus of Astronomy at the University of Padova and system manager of the Osiris telescopes mounted on the probe, the “Italian eyes” of Rosetta. In short, today Italy is half a billion kilometers from Earth. (Red)
