Paolo Ferri, ESA’s Head of Mission Operations, expresses relief at the apparently successful release of Philae from the Rosetta mothership but the potential loss of a crucial touchdown system has caused increased anxiety about the landing.
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Mystery of disappearing asteroids solved
Ever since it was realised that asteroid and comet impacts are a real and present danger to the survival of life on Earth, it was thought that most of those objects end their existence by plunging into the Sun. But a new study finds instead that most of those objects are destroyed in a drawn out, long hot fizzle, much farther from the Sun than previously thought.