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mission to land on a comet presented by

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science at nasa

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europe's rosetta spacecraft is in route

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to intercept a comet and to make history

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in 2014 rosetta will enter orbit around

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comet 67p cheryumaf gerasimenko and lend

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a probe on it two firsts

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rosetta's goal is to learn the

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primordial story this comet tells as it

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comes to life transitioning to its more

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active phase

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comets are primitive leftovers from our

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solar system's construction about 4.5

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billion years ago

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because they spend much of their time in

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the deep freeze of the outer solar

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system comets are well preserved a gold

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mine for astronomers who want to know

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what conditions were like back in the

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beginning

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as their elongated orbits swing them

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closer to the sun

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comets transform into the most

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breathtaking bodies in the night sky

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rosetta will have a front row seat for

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the metamorphosis

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a european space agency mission launched

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in 2004 with us instruments on board

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rosetta will perform the most

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comprehensive study of a comet ever

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what we know of comet so far comes from

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a handful of flyby missions

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in some ways a flyby is just a

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tantalizing glimpse of a comet at one

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stage in its evolution says claudia

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alexander project scientist for the u.s

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rosetta project at

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jpl rosetta is different

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it will orbit 67p for 17 months

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we'll see this comet evolve right before

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our eyes as we accompany it toward the

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sun and back out again

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fierce solar heat will have a profound

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effect on rosetta's target

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we'll watch the comet start as just a

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little nugget in space and then becomes

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something poetic and beautiful trailing

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a vast tale

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at the moment rosetta is resting up for

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the challenges ahead it's hibernating

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engaged in its high speed chase while

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fast asleep

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revelate is at the very beginning of the

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new year in 2014 when the spacecraft

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begins a months-long program of

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self-checkups

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if all goes well in august of the same

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year rosetta will enter orbit around

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67p's nucleus and begin scanning its

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surface for a landing site

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once a site is chosen the spacecraft

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will descend as low as one kilometer to

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deploy the lander

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the lander's name is filet after an

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island in the nile the site of an

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obelisk that helped decipher you guessed

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it the rosetta stone

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touchdown is scheduled for november 2014

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when filet will make the first ever

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controlled landing on a comet's nucleus

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when we land the comet could already be

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active says alexander

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since a comet has little gravity the

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lander will anchor itself with harpoons

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the feet may drill into something

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crunchy like permafrost or maybe into

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something rock solid once it's fastened

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the lander will commence an

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unprecedented first-hand study of a

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comet's nucleus

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among other things it will gather

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samples for examination by automatic

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onboard microscopes and take panoramic

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images of the comet's terrain from

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ground level meanwhile orbiting overhead

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the rosetta spacecraft will be busy too

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on-board sensors will map the comet's

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surface and magnetic field

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monitor the comet's erupting jets and

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geysers measure outflow rates and much

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more

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together the orbiter and lander will

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build up the first 3d picture of the

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layers and pockets under the surface of

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a comet

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the results should tell quite a story

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indeed

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for more news about comets both