Planetary and Space Sciences at Open University Analysis of extra terrestrial samples Space flight instrumentation
Had to make a really small mass spectrometer to go on the lander < 500g ! Aiming to find our what organic materials are present -> what processes occured in comet formation, and did earth water come from comets?
64 m2 of solar panels - 920W at 3AU
Journey took 10 years - flew by several asteroids on the way - in deep sleep for a lot of the journey, nervous about it waking up, but all worked properly
Had to select a landing site, and the lander had to land in November come what may. Engineers want flat, light, smooth, no boulders. Scientists wanted interesting (but survival) Had been assuming it was potato shaped, lots of flat areas - but the object turned out to be quite different so start selection process again!
Landing - gravity is very week - the force on the lander is about the same as a sheet of paper in earth gravity. Lots of stuff prepared Story - celebrating in front of the camera, while in the back room the live data stream is not so good ... going pear shaped Bouncing - got data from different bits of the comet while bouncing over the surface Had to replan the instrument usage in 60 hours - no time for testing, as battery running down
active descent system, harpoons and ice screws all failed only the “damping mechanism” kept the lander on the comet
re-established contact with lander 13 June 2015. RF link works about 160km, but orbiter mostly further away now past closest pass to sun, orbiter will come in close again, establish link to lander again
Offer to do talks in schools