FRANCE: The Rosetta mission team is celebrating its first anniversary of the spacecraft’s August 6 arrival at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Among Rosetta’s wealth of information is the discovery that the water vapor around the comet reveals a different chemical makeup than that seen on Earth. This finding could be important to understanding how our solar system formed. Many astrophysicists and chemists believe water may have been delivered to Earth soon after its formation by comets. This new finding, however, does not support that theory.
Molecular nitrogen, rarely seen in the solar system today, was more common during the formation of our family of worlds. This material – which only becomes trapped in ice under exceedingly cold conditions – was found in the tenuous atmosphere of the comet. This suggests that the class of objects formed far from the sun, in the distant Kuiper Belt.
“This mission is about scientific discovery and every day, there is something new to wonder at and try to understand. A year of observations near to the comet has provided us with a wealth of information about it, and we’re looking forward to another year of exploration,” said Nicolas Altobelli, acting Rosetta project scientist at the European Space Agency (ESA).
Pakistan to get $3b loan from Islamic Trade Financing Corporation
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