This article is not about the 1992 interceptor movie. But, the European Space Agency (ESA) to visit comet interceptor by year 2029.
One of the most amazing things to see in the night sky is a comet, with its long, lovely, dazzling ice tail. This was especially clear when Comet NEOWISE, which was mostly visible in the northern hemisphere and dazzled observers from all over the world in the summer of 2020, passed by Earth. Comets are a modest reminder that the universe is a very dynamic and beautiful place, despite the fact that the sky may appear the same night after night.
Comets are frozen leftovers from the creation of the solar system, so when we say “far away,” we really mean “very long time ago.” While we are privileged to be able to view them as brilliant sights, this is not how they initially appear. It is estimated that there are billions of comets in the Kuiper Belt, the solar system’s farthest region, where they orbit as snowballs of frozen gases, rock, and dust. One of its orbits occasionally puts it close to the Sun, where it warms up and ejects all that frozen dust and gas into a tail that extends millions of miles away from the Sun.
A mission to explore a pristine comet or other interstellar object that was just beginning its journey into the inner solar system was “accepted” by the European Space Agency (ESA) this past month. The project was fittingly titled Comet Interceptor. The project was approved by ESA at its Science Program Committee meeting on June 8; while ESA will lead the mission, the Japanese Space Agency will provide support (JAXA). Work on building the mission will shortly start now that the study phase is through and the spacecraft prime contractor has been chosen.
In 2029, Comet Interceptor will launch into orbit alongside ESA’s Ariel exoplanet mission. The mission will build on the achievements of the ESA spacecraft Giotto and Rosetta, both of which visited other comets. Despite the fact that these missions dramatically revolutionized how we thought about comets, the comets they were aiming for had already made several trips around the Sun by the time they were developed.
WHY ?
The mission’s goal is to closely examine a comet that has recently entered the inner solar system or may be making its maiden trip there. While Comet Interceptor’s target may have come from the huge Oort Cloud, more than a thousand times farther from the Sun, Rosetta’s target may have come from the stony Kuiper Belt just beyond Neptune.
In addition, Comet Interceptor supports ESA’s planetary defense initiatives. Over 29 000 asteroids and over 120 comets that pass within a few hundred miles of Earth are known to exist. We can learn more about the Solar System and improve our ability to defend the Earth in the event that one of these objects is found to be heading straight for us. Comet Interceptor joins a group of international planetary defense efforts, including as the ESA’s Hera mission, which is taking part in the first asteroid deflection test ever conducted.
WAIT FOR THE UPDATES!
What new information about comets making their first visit to the inner solar system will Interceptor learn? Will the search for a comet coming from outside our solar system be successful? Only time will tell, which is why science exists. Layman’s magazine will be waiting 2029 for the update about the mission details and the gathered information.