I am watching the coverage of the Rosetta mission this morning. It puts me very much in mind of the experience of the first manned Moon landing.
The team in the European Space Operations Centre seems much smaller than the NASA teams at the Kennedy or Houston space centers. And their coverage of the event doesn't seem to have as much scripted hyperbole kissing up to a congress.
0400 — We just got confirmation that the Philae lander has separated from Rosetta and is being pulled toward 67P's surface by its gravity, a trip that should take seven hours. There was a problem with the pressurized gas that was supposed to drive the screws in the lander's feet that were to anchor Philae to the surface so now it is all up to the harpoon in its belly that will fire as soon as it makes contact with the surface. Hopefully it will be enough to hold the lander on the surface.
0424 — Early this evening the ESOC had been a big room of empty chairs. About an hour before Philae release it looked like they were doing a shift change and the room filled with both shirts and suits. Now that they have received confirmation of release the ESOC is a ghost town.
0515 — Someone brought in what looked like a stuffed M&M-like alien and had him sitting on top of one of the low, mostly empty, bookcases where he would occasionally appear on screen. Some Scrooge suit just went into the ESOC and picked it up and took it to the back of the room and hid it behind a monitor then left. Bring back the alien.
0937 — The neatness Gestapo are at it again. First the garbage cans had to be moved out of camera sight. And now all the food and other personal items that were on top of the bookcases has had to be moved into the dark recesses of the middle shelf where they are less visible. I wonder what they had to say about the lead scientist who has been appearing in interviews in shorts and a Hawaiian-type shirt covered with scantily clad women and who is himself covered from wrists to elbows and ankles to knees with solid tattoos.
The alien reappeared for the landing but about two hours later someone marched in and took him completely out of the room.
This has been an audacious mission. It launched in 2004 and the satellite slept for 2 ½ years while it received 10 gravity assists to boost its orbit to reach 67P.
Rosetta/ESA (or maybe NASA) graphic
It woke up in November and nothing was really known about the shape, makeup or gravity of the comet. All that information was gained while on orbit flying around an object that was changing the orbit of the satellite as it flew around. And now they have successfully landed a lander on the comet and are doing science there.
NASA JPL Rosetta timeline infographic
Rosetta/ESA graphic
