THE last-minute postponement of the daring first attempt to place a probe on the surface of a comet may have unexpected benefits for the mission.
The European Space Agency is frantically studying a handful of comets as alternative quarries for its Rosetta spacecraft. The mission was postponed indefinitely last week, just eight days before launch, because of concerns over the reliability of the craft’s Ariane 5 launch vehicle.
The delay will prevent Rosetta from catching its intended target, Comet Wirtanen, as planned in 2012. The probe was designed to perform a series of slingshots around the Earth and Mars to…
