Robyn Williams takes us on a journey with his show ‘The
Science Program’ on Radio National. And not just any journey either. His
interviewing skills this time round felt like he brought us on a journey
7 billion km into deep space.
The Rosetta mission is a
cornerstone mission to chase, go into orbit around, and land on a comet.
Williams takes on an interview with Warwick Holmes from the European Space Agency
to help us understand an intriguing unmanned mission that shows the effort that
a team of amazing scientists and engineers will go to, to understand the
mystery behind what could have possibly created water on our planet.
Rosetta is a robotic spacecraft
built and launched by the European Space Agency to perform a detailed study of
comet 67P. It was launched in March 2004 and is expected to reach the comet in
August of this year. It is the first mission designed to both orbit and land on
a comet. The journey to the comet has included a fly-by of Mars to fling the
craft out into a larger orbit.
This radio documentary has you
hooked from the get go with Holmes’ opening statements building up the excitement
of the mission to that of landing on the moon for the first time, “…it’s taken
us ten years, 7 billion kilometers of flight, and to do a soft landing on the
first attempt, if it happens…I mean, it is a very difficult procedure, but if
we can get that lander down on the first attempt, it will be too incredible for
words.”
Holmes goes on to discuss that
the challenge now for the team has been to slow the craft down to match the
velocity of the comet with the aim of the mission being to land on the surface
then conduct experiments to determine the nature of the comet.
Holmes explains that the mission
follows up suggestions that the water on Earth was delivered during the early
history of our planet by an intense bombardment of comets containing water and
then goes on to predict that they may have even been the building blocks of
life on Earth as well. “The water on Earth has a particular ratio of hydrogen,
known as tritium which contains extra neutrons. If the water on comet 67P has
hydrogen with this same ratio, and further if amino acids are present, then the
evidence will mount that water and the building blocks of life were indeed
delivered to Earth by comets.”
The interview is conducted via
phone call but it sounds as if Holmes is an astronaut communicating with earth
from his tiny tin-canned spaceship in outer orbit giving the interview a very
romantic illusion to it.
The production and editing of
this Radio Documentary leaves you wanting more and I am now intrigued as to
what will happen a few months down the track when Rosetta tries to land upon a
comet for the first time.
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