ESA fires surface penetrators at ice target in search of planetary burrowers

Normally, a spacecraft slamming into a planet’s surface at the speed of sound is considered a bad thing, but the European Space Agency (ESA) plans to do just that. As part of its Core Technology Programme for Cosmic Vision, the agency fired a pair of experimental surface penetrators from a rocket sled at a test facility at the UK Military of Defence Pendine site in Wales last July. The goal is to find ways of delivering instruments beneath the ground or ice of alien worlds without drilling... Continue Reading ESA fires surface penetrators at ice target in search of planetary burrowers

Section: Space

Tags: Astrium, ESA, Experimental, QinetiQ, Spacecraft

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