Rosetta & Comets…

Anyone else hitting ‘refresh’ on the internet feeds about the Rosetta space mission at all?

I am.  I should be spending today talking with the other Kitsches judges about the final books for the award’s shortlist, and sure, I am, and that’s getting really rather real after 8 months of reading more books than sense…

… but I dunno.  There’s something about the most terrifying stage beginning of a ten year mission to land a space probe on a comet no bigger than the London Olympic site, seven hundred million miles away travelling through space at 3,500 km/hour that just pulls my attention.  And this isn’t even the terrifying bit!  Today scientists at the European Space Agency will merely be waking the Rosetta probe from hibernation, as its journey took it so far from the sun that the energy reaching it wasn’t enough to sustain it during its travels.  Today’s the day we find out if the probe is even going to be able to connect with the comet, let alone land.

I’m kinda on the edge of my seat… are you?