Rosetta Fly-By 4 March 2005 TC 10.00.40 Last year on the second of March 2004 Rosetta the Comet Chaser was launched on the first leg of its 10 year journey to join the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. When it arrives at itÕs destination in 2014 Rosetta will go into orbit around the comet and accompany it on its two year journey towards the Sun. In its quest to unravel the mysteries of comets, Rosetta will send a Lander out on to the cometÕs surface. But why is it so important to find out more about these ice-balls which are just a few kilometres across? TC 10.01.25 Quote Gerhard Schwehm On why comets are so interesting and important (Tape 1/ 01:05:20- 01:05:56) Comets are really interesting because they are the most primitive objects in the solar system. They have been formed at the same time that the planets were formed but they are stored far away from the sun in the Kuiper belt or in the Oort cloud, and this is basically to store something in a fridge at very very low temperatures, and then some of the comets
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