Is There Life Beyond This One? (Part 1) by Rudolf Okonkwo
After taking off on March 2, 2004, over ten years ago, and
travelling 6 billion kilometers, last month a European spacecraft called
Rosetta orbited the nucleus of comet 67P otherwise called Churyumor
Gerasimenko.
It was the first man-made object to essentially catch a
comet, often referred to as the solar system’s most mysterious object. On November
11, 2014, a probe called Philae will self-eject from Rosetta and land on the
comet. Philae will drill into the nucleus of the comet and perform tests,
beaming the results to Rosetta for onward transmission to earth. In December
2015, the Rosetta, flying along with the comet will come close to the sun at a
distance of 111 million miles.
The data this Rosetta exploration will reveal will help us
understand a little bit more about the history of the solar system. Scientists
working on the Rosetta may even prove the theory that it was a comet that
brought water and, consequently, life, on earth. They hope to answer nagging questions
like: Are there other forms of life out there? If there are other forms of life
could that change our beliefs and our perceptions of ourselves in this
universe? If there are other forms of life in this vast and expanding universe,
could that help us understand what form of life we will transform into after
death?
