For all that I enjoy – and actually try to make a point in my own life of – decrying the evils of rampant nationalism, I confess I also catch myself making fun of Europeans. Just because. I mean, when was the last time any European government did anything remarkable that didn’t involve genocide?
Before today, that is? Never mind the landing, every part of this thing’s voyage is astonishing.
And so cometh today’s QoD, from Unc:
Thus ends one of my favorite one liners, which went something like “There are two types of countries in the world, those that use the metric system and those that landed a Chevy on Mars”.
Seems the Europeans went and landed a Renault on a comet. A motherf*cking comet. You go, guys.
Renault still sucks, though.
But… pictures? Need verifiable pictures.
Anyway, if true it tickles the hell out of me. Remember “The Mouse that Roared” and “The Mouse on The Moon”? First thing I wondered when I read about this was: Are they going to be able to bring back samples?
As with so many other things, I suspect that – if we knew the real background story – this feat happened IN SPITE of European government, not because of it.
Asteroid mining is going to be a very big deal. Not quite sure what they want to mess around with streaking comets, but good job anyway. 🙂
ML: “Not quite sure what they want to mess around with streaking comets, but good job anyway.”
If the conventional “dirty iceball” theory holds, there would be water (for life support) and other useful volatiles. And until a comet approaches perihelion, it isn’t usually moving particularly faster then other asteroids. Might be useful resources.
(Of course, recent comet observations suggest that the “electric universe” idea of comets as rocky bodies like other asteroids is closer to reality. That’s why I’m so interested in the Rosetta mission.)
Ok. I didn’t have a good idea of the relative “speed” between comets and asterioids. Just figured comets were probably going LOTS faster, all the time.
As for what comets and asteroids, etc. are made from… with the size of the universe, they could be just about anything, and we’ll undoubtedly find some made of things we’ve never encountered before.
I’ve never believed for a moment that this planet, or this solar system, contains all the life forms in the universe, let alone all the possible minerals, etc. Glad some of us are actually looking “out there.” 🙂 Just wish I could go too. 🙁
$1.74 billion. For what?