NASA To Launch Harpoons For Sample Collection From Comets!

Collecting samples from various places and then studying it is perhaps an old professor's routine job. However it might not be as simple when you want data from a comet itself. Scientists at #-Link-Snipped-# are busy finding ways to have sufficient data about the comets-this time with the help of Harpoons!

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This is an artist's concept of a comet harpoon embedded in a comet. The harpoon tip has been rendered semi-transparent so the sample collection chamber inside can be seen. | Image Credit: NASA/Chris Meaney/Walt Feimer

NASA - NASA Developing Comet Harpoon for Sample Return has nearly perfected the harpoon which will be used in a space vehicle to be sent to cosmos for a survey. The idea is to fire a harpoon from this vehicle in the direction of the comet so that it will penetrate deep enough in it. Once it is done, the harpoon the quickly fills itself with the nearby material, discharges the discharges the external part of harpoon on the comet and return back safely to the vehicle.  However the project is not as simple as it sounds. The main difficulty lies in the very material which the harpoon is going to collect.

It is widely believed that comets are a collection of ice and the cosmic dust and is of a size of diameter of a few miles. This being the case, no one knows what can be the surface hardness on which the projectile is to be fired. As of today no such data is available hence it is difficult to produce any relevant computer model of the project. However competing against all odds, the NASA scientists have finally come up with a harpoon which satisfies the presently known wisdom in this aspect.

The team has constructed a mechanism of harpoon with a 6 feet tail and the bow made up of leaf springs used in heavy vehicles like trucks. The bow which propels it forward is made up of 1/2 inch thick steel cable. Once the set-up is ready and electrical winch then develops a force of 1000 pounds in the harpoon through the bow and hence shooting it with a velocity of 100 fps. For safety purposes, the device is directed downwards in the bucket filled with sand and other material otherwise, if targeted vertically, the harpoon may travel for miles in that direction. Moreover the setup of bucket filled with sand is bolted to the floor else the force is so high that the constructed mechanism may simply destroy the bucket spilling sand everywhere. It is however required to perfect the geometry of design and determine the energy required in propelling the device towards comet.

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This is a photo of the ballista testbed preparing to fire a prototype harpoon into a bucket of material that simulates a comet. | Image Credit : NASA/Rob Andreoli

The idea of using a harpoon came from 'landing space vehicle on comet with the help of a 'harpoon'. However, as the mission would anyways require a harpoon, it made sense to collecting samples with the device itself. It is expected that in the actual setup, the vehicle will be carrying a set of harpoons each with a different penetrating range so as to avoid mission failure in case of unsuspected surface hardness. The first use of this harpoon technology can be seen in the #-Link-Snipped-# that will probe the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

The mission is important from the point of view of search how life came into being on earth. Previously space scientists had found traces of Amino acids during its Stardust mission on comet Wild 2. Amino acids which are the primitive forms of protein have a potential of starting life. It gives a boost the idea that life was imported on earth by a comet colliding on its surface; earth's atmosphere nurturing the life which so came. Moreover the data collected from the comets and other extra-terrestrial objects might also be very important for establishing future theories.