Starship 'dating' comet into Valentine's Day

Like two monks in the dark, an American spacecraft and a comet will rush towards each other on Valentine's Day, the US Aerospace Agency (NASA) announces.

Illustration of the Deep Impact ship shooting bullets at meteorite Tempel 1
to collect dust on July 3, 2005.(Photo: utahskies.org)

NASA's Stardust-NexT spacecraft will take a quick snapshot of many photos as it flies over the Tempel 1. meteorite then the closest distance between them will be about 200 km, AFP reported.

The photos will help scientists understand the surface of Tempel 1 - about 6,000 m wide - how it changes after flying around the sun for 5 years. The trajectory of Tempel 1 is between Mars and Jupiter.

NASA used Deep Impact to fire at Comet Tempel 1 to study its material in July 2005. NASA scientists were surprised to see the material they obtained from comets. They are small and fine dust particles, not water, ice or soil as their prediction. The Deep Impact ship also found evidence of the existence of water on the surface of Tempel 1, not just inside the comet.

Joe Veverka, a researcher at Cornell University in the US, will participate in the Stardust launch program - NExT.

' The second reunion with Tempel 1 will help us better understand how comets work and their history formed 4.5 billion years ago ,' he said.

A NASA announcement said, as of April 19, the spacecraft was more than 24 million kilometers from the comet. Stardust-NExT determines the location of Tempel 1 thanks to the gravity of the earth.