The Comet Interceptor Mission, by Prof Geraint Jones

In 2019, the European Space Agency selected its latest planetary mission: the three-spacecraft Comet Interceptor. The project’s primary goal after launch in 2029 is twww.cometinterceptor.spaceo characterise, for the first time, a long-period comet, preferably approaching the Sun for the first time. This planned flyby promises to provide us with valuable data to complement information gathered by all previous comet missions; all past projects have studied comets that have been altered by passing near the Sun many times. The mission will comprise a main spacecraft and two smaller probes, one of which will be provided by the Japanese space agency, JAXA. We’ll explore the challenges of planning a mission to an unknown target, how our comet target is to be selected, and the exciting measurements that the mission team plan to make. The mission website is at www.cometinterceptor.space.

Prof. Geraint Jones is head of the Planetary Science Group at UCL’s Mullard…