NASA Is Preparing Mars Spacecraft For A Close Clash With The Comet

Comet Siding Spring which was discovered on January 2012, is expected to fly pass just 87,000 miles away which is 140,000 km wawy from Mars. This distance is merely half the distance between the Moon and Earth. This is expected to happen on the 13th of October. According to the NASA scientists, this is the first time any comet has passed nearly 10 times close to Earth. On Thursday, NASA announced in a conference, that they have already prepared themselves for the extremely rare and close encounter by the passing comet. This is will be done from the outer boundary of the solar system.

According to Padma Yanamandra-Fisher, Senior research scientist from Space Science Institute in Rancho Cucamonga, California, it is really hard to plan any mission for Oort Cloud comets, as they are not so sure about the behavior of that particular comet as well as the origin point of the comet. This comet is a very rare and special visitor from the far-away Oort Cloud.

The Oort cloud is a collection of the frozen remnants which were formed during the formation of the solar system. Comet Siding Spring which is supposed to be a first-time visitor in the inner part of the solar system was gravitationally thrown out of the solar system nearly a million years ago by a passing star. The comet is believed to be maintaining a distance from the Sun, similar to that of Mars, Saturn, Jupiter and even Neptune.

This first time movement of the comet has been named as water-ice line. During the initial stages, NASA was very much concerned with the fact that the dusty tail of the comet might interfere and become a threat to the spacecrafts orbiting around in the solar system as it passes by Mars.

During the latest assessments, the threat has been confirmed as much as 90% and based on these assessments, NASA has already made changes to the orbits of the satellites to ensure that they are behind the planet when the comet passes by.

According to Rich Zurek, a NASA Mars scientist and also working with Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, during this event, there are high chances that the remnant cloud might be very close to Mars and there are other chances of the comet completely missing Mars and will not leave any kind of particles. NASA’s current curiosity and the perfect opportunity is being protected by the fact that the atmosphere on Mars is very thin compared to Earth. NASA is very curious about this comet as it might lead to triggering of meteor showers.

Apart from India and the European Space Agency spacecraft orbiting the planet, NASA has two rovers apart from their three operational orbiters which are currently orbiting Mars. All of this probe is part of the study, which is based on a grand science campaign focusing on the comet during its contact time. NASA scientists are curious to learn about the impacts of the planet’s gravitational force on the comet and how the comet will be impacting the Mars atmosphere.

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NASA moved one more step forward in the history of space by launching the First spacecraft named Rosetta, which will be rotating around a comet. It will be landed on its nucleus and will be sending data back to the earth. A new invention has shocked the entire world due to its effective use. The spacecraft Rosetta was launched in the year 2004, but was reactivated in 2014 after a record of 957days of staying in the state of hibernation.

The main focus 7 duty of Rosetta was to reach the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by the month of August and to study the celestial object and to prepare for mooring on the nucleus mostly by November.

Claudia Alexander, who is a Rosetta's U.S. project scientist at NASA's (JPL) in Pasadena, California was very excited and feels proud to see some zero’s and ones coming down, he rejoices and is waiting to extract what actually this all want to inform. Research and study are the all-time focused works for the Scientist, which will help them to make human travel Mars easily.

The current news reflects that Rosetta is approaching the main asteroid belts positioned between Mars and Jupiter. The exact location of the spacecraft is almost 30000 miles away from the Comet, but positively by august the instrument will be able to begin its work and map its surface.

The total number of instruments launched in the space can be calculated as three they are namely, MIRO, Alice (Ultraviolet spectrometer), and IES. These three forms the part of the Suite of 11-science instrument abroad the Rosetta orbit. The main activity of each can be briefly classified as:

MIRO: The MIRO was lunched and positioned to scrutiny the effect of dust and gas, which leaves the nucleus in order to form the comet and its tail giving it a striking look. It gives details of the formation of comet and it leaves the purlieu of the sun.

Alice: It acts as the calculator which measure the proportion at which the comet produces different elements such as water, carbon-di-oxide, carbon mono-oxide as it approaches the SUN. It also helps in analysis of the gas in the comet’s coma.

IES: The main objective of IES is to work upon the plasma environment of the comet, predominantly the coma. They work upon the charged particles present in the outer atmosphere of the sun or present in the solar winds as they meet up with the gas flowing out from the comet. The accumulative effort of the entire three segments will help the scientist analyses the possibility to set Human on Mars.

In December this year, the engineers at NASA will start the final assembly of ORION spacecraft that would take men to Mars.The Orion’s flight test in December will provide with all the necessary data, which in order will help to analyze and arrange the entire perquisite for sending Humans to mars safely. In the future, Orion will be in position to launch the NASA’s new heavy lift Rocket, SLS (space launch system)

The SLS (Space launch System) will be world’s first heavy lift rocket which will be in position to carry Human Beings in space.