Meet & Geek

Having watched Interstellar last week my head was already somewhere out in the stars.  But this week, a real-life space drama has been playing out.

Like many others, I’ve been captivated by the Philae mission this week – the Rosetta Mission by the European Space Agency, which aimed to land a probe on a comet (called 67P).  If you missed the excitement, you can read about it here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science-environment-29985988

For me, this real mission was just as exciting as any film. Landing on a comet had never been attempted before. The Philae lander probe (carried on a larger probe called Rosetta) travelled 6.4 billion kilometers to reach comet 67P.  And then, Philae – about the size of a fridge – had to somehow land on the rubber-duck shaped comet, which was travelling 18 kilometers per second through space.

The mission succeeded.  Philae touched down – all be it with a bump – and…