NASA installs the first zero gravity 3D printer in International Space Station

NASA has successfully installed the World's first zero gravity 3D printer on the International Space Station to help the astronauts experiment with additive manufacturing in micro gravity.  

NASA astronaut Barry Wilmore installed the 3D printer, designed and built by Made In Space, inside the Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG) on the ISS.  The printer was launched in September aboard the SpaceX 4 resupply mission to the ISS.

Philae lander lands on the comet

A small robotic lander released from European Space Agency's Rosetta probe touched down on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on wednesday 12th November, 2014 after 7-hour descent, by gently colliding and tumbling to the surface of the comet.  

The Philae lander hit the surface of two and half mile wide comet at a speed of 2 miles per hour.  The gravity on the comet is 1,00,000 times less than that of on earth.  Shortly after its deployment, Philae sent the first photo of the comet. 

This is one of the great success for ESA which launched Rosetta spacecraft more than 10 years ago from the Kourou launch port in French Guiana.  After launching in March, 2004 the spacecraft and Philae lander travelled more than 6 billion kilometers to catch up the comet which orbits the sun at speeds of upto 1,35,00 Km per hour

Here is a video about Philae lander by ESA.

Robotic Probe landing on a comet for the first time next week

European scientists and engineers are getting ready for a soft landing of a robotic probe on the surface of a comet for the first time.  This will happen next week.

The ESA's spacecraft "Rosetta" is just a few days away from releasing its Philae lander onto the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.  Scientists are getting to soft land the lander on 12th November,2014 on the surface of the comet.  

If the mission is successful, the Philae landing will be the first time humans have ever soft landed a probe on a comet's surface.  The lander will study the surface of the comet and the Rosetta probe will study the comet from the orbit.  

It is not easy to land the lander on the surface of the comet.  It has taken 10 years for the probe to catch up with the comet.  A number of specific commands must be executed in order to ensure that Rosetta does not crash into the comet and Philae will arrive at its landing site safely.  Rosetta should release the Philae when the two spacecrafts are flying about 22.5 kilometers from the center of the comet.  The scientists have to wait 10 hours before finding out whether the landing would be successful. 

The scientists and the teams are fully prepared to accomplish the difficult task of landing Philae on comet.  TheRosetta is expected to stay with the comet as it makes its closest approach with the sun in August, 2015.  The spacecraft will beam back scientific data to Earth which could help scientists understand about comets and early solar system. The instruments on Rosetta already revealed that comets smell like rotten eggs. 

The Rosetta was launched to space in 2004 on a  6.4 billion kilometers journey to the comet.  It has reached the comet in August, 2014.  Here is an artist's impression of Philae lander on the surface of comet.



Here is a video showing how the Rosetta will land the Philae lander on the comet.