A Comet and a Spacecraft and a Lander
I’ve been staring at this picture for many minutes now, and keep asking “can you believe it?”
This looks like a scene from a movie, but it’s not. It is a real picture taken by a spacecraft currently visiting a comet called Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The double-lobed thing on top is the comet and below it is the 14-m long solar array of the spacecraft called Rosetta. This picture is taken by a lander called Philae that is attached to the spacecraft. And can you imagine that this lander is going to separate from Rosetta on Nov 12 and land on the comet?!
When people start asking why spend money in space, just show them this picture and tell them, because picture like this can inspire people, showing that passion, perseverance and dedication can make us reach for the seemingly impossible task. If we can think of it, we can do it!
p/s: by the way, spending all the money down on Earth also doesn’t guarantee that it can solve Earth’s problems, and the fact is, the money spends in space is only a very small portion compared to the money spend in war!
My Dark Sky 