Ever since November 12th, when the European Space Agency successful completed part of the groundbreaking Rosetta mission, deep space has been taking over both world news and the cinemas .
The Rosetta mission launched a robotic lander - dubbed Philae - to probe and drill a comet . This was the first time that humans have ever landed on one.
Powered by solar energy, Philae detected organic molecules on Comet 67P/Churymov–Gerasimenko. These icy space rocks are leftover material from the clouds of dust that formed our solar system 4.6 billion years ago, so data regarding the chemical composition of comets can provide key insight into how planets were built. Some also think that by understanding their composition, we can have ideas about how the early molecules that led to life on Earth arrived on our planet.
Despite these exciting developments, Philae will not be able to send back any more information, as its batteries have died and, due to a faulty landing, is stuck in a dark spot on the comet, unable to generate solar power. Philae is now in deep sleep. Although scientists hope that lander will be exposed to sunlight again and be able to send back more data, it is not clear if that will ever happen.
Rosetta, Philae's mother ship, spent ten years flying to this comet, and another one month mapping the surface. Although Philae spent just 64 hours on the surface, it delivered all of its data on its planned experiments . Rosetta will continue its mission, orbiting Comet 67P/Churymov–Gerasimenko as it moves closer to the sun.
All of this brings us to today's question: just how much does it cost to land on a comet? While it is a pretty penny, if you take a look at this cheeky infographic below, courtesy of Scienceogram, it is clear that with crowd-funding, deep space is within the public's reach.
