The European Space Agency (ESA) has selected a comet interceptor for the first of its new class of “fast” missions.
These must launch within eight years of selection and weigh less than 1,000kg so they can hitchhike into space on an already scheduled launch.
Comet Interceptor will use a central spacecraft and two smaller probes to travel to an as-yet unidentified comet and map it in three dimensions. Comets are ancient objects that preserve information about the formation of the solar system 4.6bn years ago.
Previous missions have studied comets that are trapped in short-period orbits around the sun and so have been significantly altered by the sun’s light and heat. Comet Interceptor will target a pristine comet on its first approach to the sun. To be ready, the mission will launch in 2028 alongside the Ariel space telescope – the ESA’s mission to study the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars.
Once in space, Comet Interceptor will wait in a parking orbit until a suitable target has been identified. It will then set out on an intercept course, deploying two smaller probes that will make extremely close passes of the comet’s nucleus and beam their data back to the main craft.
