NASA develops space harpoon to take samples from comets

In what seems to be a step backward’s with technology.  NASA researchers are putting the final touches on a prototype Ballista/Crossbow that will Harpoon a comet.

Using the giant crossbow, NASA hopes to be able to capture samples with a hollow tipped harpoon.  The space agency already has a prototype that is capable of firing it’s projectile just over 1 mile.

Researchers believe this method would be safer to retrieve samples than landing on the comet.  The hollow tipped harpoon, will have a hollow chamber that will contain the sample.

NASA isn’t the only agency to use a harpoon, the ESA Rosetta mission scheduled to  rendezvous with a comet named Churyumov-Gerasimenko by October 2014.  It will use a harpoon to anchor the lander.

Now if this seems kind of comical the space harpoon, will require “surgical precision” from a spacecraft hovering above the target.

Engineers at Nasa’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, have built a trial harpoon that is 6ft (183cm) tall.

It’s bow was constructed from pair of springs normally used to provide the suspension for trucks. The bow string is steel cable half an inch thick.

It can fire projectiles at speeds of more than 100ft per second. Test projectiles are fired into large drums filled with sand, rock salt, ice or pebbles.

NASA’s comet harpoon hasn’t been selected for use on a mission yet but they have several candidates they would like to try it on.

Sources: NASA, BBCNews, National Geographic, Youtube