The Comet And The Moon
gravity
Answers
Explanation:
COMET Hale-Bopp has a moon, says a NASA physicist in California. If confirmed, "Baby Bopp" would be the first satellite ever discovered for a comet, and would allow astronomers to measure a comet's mass for the first time
ENABLING & SUPPORT
Asteroids, comets and moons
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ESA / Enabling & Support / Preparing for the Future / Discovery and Preparation
We have learned a lot from visiting the Moon, and even more from visiting other planets, but what about the thousands of other small objects that share our Solar System? Space agencies have sent several spacecraft to asteroids, comets, dwarf planets and small moons, and have ambitious plans to send more in the future.
Asteroids and comets are believed to be leftover debris from the formation of the Solar System, meaning they can help trace its history. What’s more, these objects may have played a vital role in the development of our planet and terrestrial life by colliding with Earth in catastrophic impact events, bringing life-sparking organic compounds. Such collisions were more common in the early Solar System, but small objects can still impact Earth, damaging life, nature and infrastructure.
Such objects may also have brought organic matter to other planets and moons, some of which – Jupiter’s moon Europa or Saturn’s moon Enceladus, for example – may possess the right conditions for hosting some form of life. For all these reasons, and many more, it is important to study these objects and find out more about them.
Discovery & Preparation activities
Laying the groundwork for ESA’s future activities, Discovery & Preparation supports exploratory research into new concepts. Several Discovery & Preparation studies have investigated different elements of possible future missions to explore small extraterrestrial objects.
Asteroids and comets whose orbits come close to or even cross that of Earth are known as near-Earth objects (NEOs), and they can pose an impact threat. To mitigate this threat, the first step is to search for NEOs and map their orbits. Discovery & Preparation supported a study that explored using star trackers – already on board many spacecraft for orientation calculation – to search for NEOs.
Another challenge we face from extraterrestrial objects is that dust on their surfaces may affect visiting spacecraft, landers and astronauts. The Dusty Plasma Environments study was the first step in developing a set of models that could assess the effects of dusty plasma on future exploration units.
Recent exploration probes and rovers host mini laboratories for in-situ research, but sophisticated laboratories on Earth can perform even more advanced tests. One Discovery & Preparation study explored how to set up a facility on Earth that could safely handle such precious and potentially hazardous samples that were brought back from these space rocks. The investigation was based on previous Mars sample return facility studies.
Another study explored how to land safely on a low-gravity object. It was carried out primarily by the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), who developed the MASCOT lander for the Japanese Hayabusa2 asteroid mission. The study looked into developing a second lander, MASCOT-2, designed to land on Dimorphos (previously known as Didymoon) – one half of the double asteroid target of ESA’s Hera mission.
Due to be launched in 2024, Hera is one of Discovery & Preparation’s great success stories. The mission design was possible thanks to numerous studies, many of which are highlighted in the timeline below.
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