The Rosetta Comet landing is a monumental step in space exploration, especially from the experts' points of view.
The Rosetta Comet landing was executed this week, and in spite of the mishap in its position, is considered a success nonetheless. The Philae lander's awkward placement made energy-efficiency and tasks difficult, but the ESA commenced drilling for samples nonetheless.
The event earned quite a buzz over the past few days, and experts confirm it was a monumental step in space exploration for plenty of reasons. Here are a few (cnn.com):
Matt Taylor of the European Space Agency comments the Rosetta Comet Landing accomplished a handful of firsts:
"Rosetta has rendezvoused, orbited and will soon deploy a lander to the comet surface. If that isn't enough firsts, the orbiter will remain alongside the comet for over a year, watching it grow in activity as it approaches the Sun, getting to within 180 million km in summer next year, when the comet will be expelling hundreds of kilograms of material every second."
The mission allows study of comets from a first-person perspective. Previous efforts were mere observations from the ground, but the Philae lander practically piggybacks with the comet as it makes its round of the Solar System.
Kathrin Altwegof ROSINA says the event is expected to yield more answers to the existential question of "where do we come, and where do we go?"
"Rosetta is the first mission following a comet over a long period; it's the first mission close to a comet (less than 10 km) and it will be the first mission with a cometary lander. It's a mission full of discoveries in line with great missions like Voyager or Cassini."
Claudia Alexander of the Rosetta Project compares the Rosetta Comet Landing to bringing a working laboratory onto a comet's surface.
"I've waited 10 years to finally be here, waiting for the landing to take place, and for the comet to start revealing its mysteries. It's a dream come true to get our hands on this substance, metaphorically, and get the physics right, by bringing a laboratory to a comet."
The Rosetta Comet landing is the end-result of the spacecraft's ten-year catapult into space, initially slingshot from Earth's orbit and made rounds around the Solar System before rendezvousing with Comet 67P.
