Rosetta: Chasing a Comet to Find ...
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Rosetta: Chasing a Comet to Find Earth's Oceans
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Episode notes

Chase a frozen mountain across deep space for ten years, drop a lander onto it, then watch in horror as the lander bounces off and disappears into the dark. Yet a decade after it ended, this mission's data is rewriting the history of Earth's oceans.

This deep dive follows the European Space Agency's Rosetta, the first spacecraft to orbit and soft-land on a comet. We explore the near-disasters, the mind-bending science, and the profound question at its heart: was the water in your glass delivered to Earth by a frozen rock like Comet 67P billions of years ago?

  • The years of gravity-assist flybys, including the billion-euro Mars gamble where Rosetta survived 15 minutes in shadow on untested batteries
  • The duck-shaped comet, Philae's failed harpoons and double bounce, and how it still achieved 80 percent of its science goals in ... 
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