Irish companies played an important role in the development and testing ofthe Rosetta satellite, writes Dick Ahlstrom.
The Rosetta satellite is finally on its way for a rendezvous with a cosmic iceberg. Bristling with experiments, it will orbit a comet then drop a lander on its surface, revealing for the first time the stuff of the cosmos, the material from which our solar system was formed 4.6 billion years ago.
Rosetta was carried aloft on Tuesday morning, the third attempt in a week to get the satellite on its way. Poor weather and technical mishaps halted the first two goes at lift-off. The satellite payload reached orbit and then underwent a second rocket boost before separation and its escape from earth. It will be back three times however, with three Earth fly-bys and one fly-by of Mars in order to build up enough speed to allow it to reach its target in mid-2014.
The European Space Agency's Rosetta mission is colossal by any standards. Costing more than €1 billion the satellite has embarked on a 10-year, 7,000 million-kilometre journey to reach the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
The satellite itself is huge, weighing in at 3,000kg and having a solar panel wingspan reaching about the height of Liberty Hall in Dublin.
Yet the magnitude of what it might discover with its 20 odd experiments will in comparison make its imposing statistics look paltry indeed - provided of course it successfully plays catch-up with the comet while remaining fully functional during the decade-long chase through space.
Irish companies played a significant role in the development and testing of the satellite and its launch vehicle the Ariane-5 launcher. Malahide, Co Dublin-based CAPTEC developed key communications software and tested Rosetta's main on-board software. Prof Susan McKenna Lawlor's Space Technology Ireland Ltd developed "mission critical" Electrical Support System hardware to control command and communications links between the lander, its experiments and the mother ship. Dublin-based Aerospace engineering firm, Devtec Ltd, produced engine components for the Ariane launch vehicle.
CAPTEC MD, Mr Fred Kennedy, expressed his relief at the successful launch of the Rosetta mission. His greatest fears were for the Ariane launcher, given the satellite mission had been delayed for a year due to the failure of an upgraded Ariane-5 on its maiden flight in December 2002.
"I am delighted the satellite has been launched. Everyone was a bit nervous about that," he said on the day of the launch. "I am confident that if the thing can reach its objective, it will work," he added.
Getting there is no mean feat given the distances involved and the difficulty of staying in touch with the satellite. Communications relays will take 80 minutes once Rosetta reaches the comet, so the satellite's software allows for a high degree of decision-making autonomy if it senses something going wrong.
The science bundle on board Rosetta will deliver masses of data once in orbit around the comet. It will measure and "weigh" the comet, study dust coming from the surface, and analyse its plasma environment and solar wind inter- actions.
The scientific payload on board the lander, Philae, is also substantial.
Philae will use harpoons to lock itself onto the surface and then drill into the comet to tell us for the first time what these giant dirty snowballs are actually made of.
The data obtained from the Rosetta mission might help unlock the secrets of how life began on Earth, says Prof McKenna Lawlor. The close-up view of the comet "will allow scientists to look back 4,600 million years to an epoch when no planets existed and only a vast swarm of asteroids and comets surrounded the sun," she says. "Comets are most interesting bodies since they can provide a key to deciphering the way in which the solar system formed."
The instruments will search for complex organic molecules, substances that could constitute the pre-biotic building blocks of life.