So How Many Miles Per Hour

[ilovemarkb]

has the probe (rosetta mission) done on average to reach that comet three hundred million miles away and taken ten years???????

[Slapshot]

Daisy, what Zacs means is that the technology used in getting into space allowe science to use the discoveries to invet some of the things we take for granted, velcro, non stick pans witha teflon coating, battery technology, computer technology the list is endless.

[humbersloop]

slappy, are they just leaving it there now it's parked?

[mazie]

Wow. thank you slapshot x

[Old_Geezer]

IMO If one can not see the point one must also not see the point in trying to understand the reality around us, the search for knowledge, for it is the same thing. I believe the search for knowledge is its own reward, one of the most worthy things we can do, given that no one has come up with a definitive answer to why we are all here,

That is even without considering all the advantages to life searching for more knowledge can bring.

One of many things this should tell us is whether amino acids and peptides form inside the nucleus of a comet and thus could survive an encounter with the early Earth; or form on dust in the tail where they could be destroyed on entry through the atmosphere. That could knock massive amounts of time it takes for a suitable planet to first develop life.

[Tilly2]

Slappy, I didn't know that. I do apologise. I know nothing. I really should stick to chatterbank!

[Slapshot]

No no Tilly you must keep asking questions like this because that's what keeps the world going , What if and Why are two of the great bits on language we have; as a young student I was told that when you stop asking what if you could go and be a lawyer.. ;0)

[Slapshot]

Hi Sloopy, I'm not certain what it's plans are to be honest, I doubt it has rocket motors that could power it off the comet so I suspect it'll become part of it till the comet collides with some other celestial body

[EDDIE51]

Tilly the main reason for it is to find out if comets were how water arrived on Earth. In the early part of Earths history it was far too hot for there to be any water. So water ,billions and billions of tons of it must have got here after the Earth cooled down to below boiling point. One theory is that comets made of ice crashed into the Earth and left the water, without which life could never have started.

[EDDIE51]

slapshot Yes it will remain on the comet sending back data until its power runs out. Then it will just sit there for ever.

[Hypognosis]

More than just too hot, Eddie. Apparently the meteorites which coalesced to form the molten early earth were made of minerals too deficient in oxygen for the world's oceans to have arisen by chemical action on them.

Note: I am too tired to even glean what little I can from just the titles of the papers in the reference section and the page I link to is just a digest. Interesting tidbits there though.

http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v478/n7368/full/nature10519.html

@Tilly this isn't my life's work but when do we get to describe yours as a "waste of money"? You're usually a nice person; why this?