Before leaving to Germany for celebrations, the discoverer of the comet Churyumov Klim Ivanovich gave an interview to NTUU "KPI". The main theme - the mission of "Rosetta", its characteristics and importance of the comets study for the knowledge of the world.
November 12, first time in the history the automated module “Philae” from the interplanetary probe of European Space Agency “Rosetta” will make a landing on the nucleus of the Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko and will start research on the program. With a help of this research scientists hope to come closer to the problem of Solar system and planets creation.
This Comet was discovered in 1969 by young astronomers – our compatriots Klim Churyumov (now corresponding member of NAS of Ukraine, Professor, director of Kyiv Planetarium and Svetlana Gerasimenko (now the scientist of the Institute of Astrophysics Republic of Tadjikistan).
During its flight "Rosetta" flew over the 6 billion kilometers of space. November 12, the space probe will be positioned at a distance of 22.5 km from the comet's nucleus. This distance will allow to carry out the maneuvers required for a safe landing module "Philae". Its separation from the probe will begin at 10:42 Kyiv time. Landing on the comet nucleus will take place about 18-00. The landing will be telecasted live with equipment installed on board of the module "Pilae".
More information about the mission of "Rosetta" see. on http://www.dlr.de/en (home of the German Aerospace Center DLR in English) and http://www.dlr.de/dlr/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-10394/ (page dedicated to the mission "Rosetta" in English).