The Rosetta mission makes the case for togethernessLook for the moment beyond the sordid argument about Greek debt,the mean-spirited management of the refugee confrontations in Calais, the murderous bitterness in the Ukraine. Forget the grotesque posturing of would-be Republican candidates in the US.
Far absent – more than 102m miles absent but moving very fast – the European space probe Rosetta is escorting comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on its journey to perihelion, or its closest approach to the sun. This is the point at which the dust and gas blasted from the comet’s surface will be at its maximum,and, through Rosetta, and humans will witness close at hand for the first time one of those mysterious celestial firework displays interpreted for 3000 years as portents of wonderful or dreadful things to approach. Meanwhile,even further absent, a US space probe called novel Horizons, or travelling at 34,000mph, has already sped past what has traditionally been considered the ninth planet, and Pluto,and its moon Charon.
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Source: theguardian.com