Rosetta's MIDAS...

Courtesy: http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/03/26/introducing-midas-rosettas-micro-imaging-dust-analysis-system/

Topics: Astrophysics, Comets, ESA, NASA, Rosetta, Space Exploration, Women in Science

There is a movie coming out in 2017 called "Hidden Figures" about the African American women that were "computers" as they were all called at the time. Behind the scenes and out of notice (purposely) from the public eye, these scientists were responsible for mankind getting to the moon, despite what your conspiracy provocateur uncle spouts around the dinner table at Thanksgiving.

Dr. Claudia Alexander was a project scientist on the American portion of the international Rosetta mission. She sadly lost her battle with breast cancer last year. I always try to highlight such achievements since its obvious from a societal structural sense, negative stereotypes are often forwarded to maintain an inane "status quo" while simultaneously complaining about "bootstraps." I salute Dr. Alexander, a modern Hidden Figure in Science that paved the way for new discoveries by humankind.

Thanks to in situ measurements from MIDAS (the Micro-Imaging Dust Analysis System) on-board the Rosetta spacecraft, researchers have now found out more about the structure of the dust particles on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The particles are made up of aggregates and cover a range of sizes – from tens of microns to a few hundred nanometres. They also appear to have formed from the hierarchical assembly of smaller constituents and come in a range of shapes, from single grains to larger, porous aggregated particles with some dust grains being elongated. The study could shed more light on the processes that occurred when our Solar System formed nearly five billion years ago.

Planetary systems like our own Solar System started out as dust particles in protoplanetary nebulae – clouds of gas and dust that gave rise to stars and planets. The particles collided and agglomerated to form planetesimals – the building blocks of planets. Comets are leftover planetesimals and are made of ice and dust particles. They range in size from a few hundreds of metres to ten of kilometres and are mainly found on the outskirts of the Solar Systems, far from damaging radiation, high temperatures and collisions with other objects.

Nanotech Web:
Rosetta’s MIDAS analyses cometary dust particles, Belle Dumé

Heavenly Gates...

Topics: Astrophysics, Comets, Diversity, Diversity in Science, Space Exploration, Rosetta, Women in Science

Yesterday was "Back to the Future, Part II" day. I saw a lot of commentary about how far we've come in 30 years. Interestingly not only did I not comment on it, I don't really recall seeing the second movie! I saw the first and third. I guess I'll have to rent it to catch up. We don't have flying cars or hover boards, but we seem to have a plethora of "Biff" personalities. I'll let you interpret...

This also happened yesterday, which didn't get a lot of notice. I don't expect it will, but if our priorities were actually calibrated to regard important people doing important things other than athletes, bombastic public characters, rappers and "reality shows"...it would.

The C. Alexander Gate, located on the smaller lobe of Comet 67P/C-G, has been named for Claudia J. Alexander, a U.S. Rosetta project scientist. Alexander passed away on July 11, 2015, after a 10-year battle with breast cancer. She was 56.

Alexander earned a bachelor's degree in geophysics from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master's degree in geophysics and space physics from the University of California, Los Angeles. She went on to earn her doctorate degree in atmospheric, oceanic and space sciences from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. She began working at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California before completing her doctorate. At the relatively young age of 40, she served as project manager for NASA's Galileo mission in 2000.

Alexander strove to inspire young people, writing children's books on science and mentoring young African-American girls. She also wrote "steampunk" science-fiction short stories.

The A. Coradini Gate, located on the larger lobe of the comet, was dedicated to Angioletta Coradini, the former principal investigator of Rosetta's VIRTIS instrument. Coradini passed away in September 2011 after a year-long battle with cancer. She was 65.

Coradini earned her master's degree in physics at the University of Rome, where she also earned her doctorate degree. She worked for the National Research Council of Italy before moving on to the National Astrophysics Institute of Italy. She led the Italian team for the Cassini VIMS visual channel. She worked on NASA's Dawn mission team, which explored the asteroid Vesta and is presently in orbit around the dwarf planet Ceres.

"Angioletta was one of the world-recognized leading experts in the Planetary Sciences, with varied interests ranging from minor bodies to outer planets and theoretical work on the formation of our solar system," said a tribute posted on the American Astronomical Society website. "She made fundamental contributions in all these domains."

Space.com: Rosetta Team Names Comet Features for Lost Colleagues
Nola Taylor Redd

Our Loss, the Universe's Gain...

Claudia Alexander (1959–2015)

Topics: Comets, Diversity, Diversity in Science, Rosetta, Space Exploration, STEM, Women in Science

As a research scientist, she inspired a generation, especially young women, to seek careers in science, technology, engineering and math.

This weekend was one of great excitement for the planetary science community as the New Horizons spacecraft moved in on Pluto following decades of hard work. But that optimism took on a somber tone Saturday as news quickly traveled that pioneering scientist Claudia Alexander had died at age 56. Friends and family writing online tributes reported she suffered from breast cancer, but no official cause of death was given.

Alexander was an employee of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the final project manager for NASA’s Galileo mission. But her public profile rose dramatically last fall due to her duties as project scientist for NASA’s role in the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

"The passing of Claudia Alexander reminds us of how fragile we are as humans but also as scientists how lucky we are to be part of planetary science,” James Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, said in a statement. “She and I constantly talked about comets. Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in particular. She was an absolute delight to be with and always had a huge engaging smile when I saw her. It was easy to see that she loved what she was doing. We lost a fantastic colleague and great friend. I will miss her."

Astronomy: Pioneering Rosetta mission scientist Claudia Alexander dead at 56, Eric Betz

Alice's Wonderland...

Image Source: ESA Rosetta Blog

Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Comets, Rosetta, Spectrograph

A close-up of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by NASA's ultraviolet instrument surprised scientists by revealing that electrons close to the comet's surface—not photons from the Sun as had been believed—cause the rapid breakup of water and carbon dioxide molecules spewing from the surface.

Since last August, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft has orbited within a hundred miles of the comet in this historic mission. The spectrograph onboard, named Alice, specializes in the far-ultraviolet wavelength band and was developed by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI). Alice examines light the comet is emitting to understand the chemistry of the comet's atmosphere, or coma. A spectrograph is a tool astronomers use to split light into its various colors. Scientists can identify the chemical composition of gases by examining their light spectrum. Alice is the first such far-ultraviolet spectrograph to operate at a comet.

NASA's Alice ultraviolet (UV) spectrograph, seen here during construction, is aboard the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft. Credit: Southwest Research Institute

"The discovery we're reporting is quite unexpected," said Alice instrument Principal Investigator Dr. Alan Stern, an associate vice president in SwRI's Space Science and Engineering Division. "It shows us the value of going to comets to observe them up close, since this discovery simply could not have been made from Earth or Earth's orbit with any existing or planned observatory. And, it is fundamentally transforming our knowledge of comets.

Phys.org: Alice instrument's ultraviolet close-up provides a surprising discovery about comet's atmosphere

SETI Talk - Dr. Alexander...

Dr. Claudia Alexander - Geophysics, NASA Project Scientist, APS

Here we have a talk by Claudia Alexander who will explain the science background of some of the mysteries of comets including pros and cons about why we think comets might have brought Earth’s water, concepts regarding missing nitrogen in the outer solar system, and material the comet is made of. Finally Dr Alexander will set the stage for the landing and walk through the 60 hours of time spent on the comet’s surface. The initial findings are summarized as well.

Source: Physics Database

Landing on a Comet...

So, what will we find?

Ice, minerals are sure bets. Hopefully the harpoons they've engineered hold on whatever qualifies as a "surface" on a comet. The fun of science is the unknown; that's the adventure!

The ancient Greek on the Rosetta Stone told archaeologists that it was inscribed by priests honoring the king of Egypt, Ptolemy V, in the second century B.C. More startlingly, the Greek passage announced that the three scripts were all of identical meaning. The artifact thus held the key to solving the riddle of hieroglyphics, a written language that had been "dead" for nearly 2,000 years. Source: The History Channel

It is appropriate that we'll be reaching back in time, perhaps to the dawn of our solar system, a hieroglyphics of radiometric and Carbon-14 dating: back to our very beginnings.

European Space Agency: Live Rosetta Updates