#HelloEarth ... Philae is awake!

The European Space Agency's Rosetta Mission tweets, "Incredible news!My lander Philae is awake!"

AS I excitedly look forward to enter the newsroom after some time of hiatus, having taken a short break from my journalist role, I was overjoyed as the news of the comet lander, Philae (#Philaewakesup and #Philae) filled my Twitter notifications reminding me that it’s going to be an exploratory week ahead.

What else could be better other than to be greeted with such news to get my week started in the newsroom? (I can’t think of any)

I do have some entrenched and enigmatic affinity to space exploration and rocket-science I suppose for my heart leaped in quantum beats and was filled with some unutterable amount of joy over the ‘awakening’.

"It's been a long seven months, and to be quite honest we weren't sure it would happen - there are a lot of very happy people around Europe at the moment." said European Space Agency (ESA) scientist Mark McCaughrean to a British news agency.

I’m pretty sure many others with deep-rooted interest in this field would also be sharing the joy and dancing to Pharrel’s upbeat ‘Happy’ tune to celebrate the occasion (or am I the only one?)

For the uninitiated, the ESA made the big announcement Sunday that its spacecraft, also the first to land on a comet, Philae was awaken after dozing off for seven months and has communicated with mother Earth.

A handout picture made available by the European Space Agency (ESA) on 12 November 2014 shows people reacting in the main control room at ESA's operations centre, ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany, after the separation of the Philae lander from ESA Rosetta orbiter was confirmed.-EPA/J. MAI/ESA /HANDOUT

In November 2014, Philae landed onto the surface of Comet 67P from its mothership, Rosetta making history and was functional for about three days before its solar-powered battery ran out of juice driving the comet lander to sleep.

“Hello Earth! Can you hear me?”, an account associated to the lander tweeted once it was able to communicate.

The news of Philae in what is likely the first time in history, a comet rambler being able to provide updates on the whereabouts and what-not of a comet would definitely be another leap forward in the realm of science and space exploration.

Now, you should pause and ponder, what’s so great about this rambler on a comet?

It is indeed a remarkable feat among other great discoveries that have been churned out by mankind’s continuous pursuit of progress.

Since the time of Aristotle, the Greek philosopher and scientist, Renaissance’s Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei to world-renowned physicist Albert Einstein to the present line-ups of great thinkers like physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking and Indian scientist A.P.J Abdul Kalam, there has been this innate curiosity, inquisitiveness that never cease to exist.

Sky's the limit

In trying to excavate and unlock the mystery surrounding the life forms on earth, scientists have embarked on this mission which is regarded as “one of the most audacious space missions ever”.

The Philae lander touched down on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko shortly after 1600 GMT, Nov 2014, seven hours after separating from its mothership Rosetta around half a billion kilometres from Earth.-AFP

Planetary scientist, Professor Monica Grady told the media that scientists now hoped to be able to conduct experiments to find out whether comets were the source of life on Earth.

Water and carbon make up large chunks of comets and Monica said "these are the same sorts of molecules responsible for getting life going.

"What we're trying to find out is whether the building blocks of life, in terms of water and carbon-bearing molecules, were actually delivered to Earth from comets".

This just serves as a testament that the sky is the limit to what the human mind is capable of achieving.

The thought of it is simply astonishing and seeing it unfold right in front of us is beyond captivating.

Skyrocketing interest

I was transported back to my schooling years, the first time being exposed to galaxies (not the entertainment magazine) Milky Way and Andromeda, the solar system, the nine planets (nine or 10 still arguable), comets and asteroids.

Everything was simply awe-inspiring back then and thanks to the awakening of Philae after the seven months of silence has awakened and reinvigorated the passion for aerospace that I developed back in school.

I've always enjoyed the deafening silence (maybe not always silent) and excited kid waiting to open my present box every time lessons on space were being taught. Do students still get excited now? I hope they do.

Well if classroom fails to instil the passion for subjects like this, then space explorations such as this should be able to skyrocket one’s interest in such an enlightening field of study.

Scientific and progressive Malaysia

So where is Malaysia again in this rocket-race and comet-chase? There is already immense joy at the sight of the accomplishments that the scientific community outside Malaysia has been able to achieve.

Wouldn’t it be even gratifying to taste the sorts of successes closer at home?

How long will the wait be for us, the scientific community in Malaysia to experience that sort of pursuit of knowledge?

Again, the clock is ticking as we approach the year 2020 where one of the nine strategic challenges as outlined that Malaysia must strive to achieve is establishing a scientific and progressive society.

How close are we at realizing the grand ambition of Malaysia by the year 2020?

Is it still a far cry from reality as we still struggle to safeguard our own tankers and submarines that having our own space probes or venturing into the field would be something entirely out of our league?

In all fairness, we had our Angkasawan program in 2007 and few attempts to revive it later on but seems like it has got us nowhere yet.

Till then, we shall wait with bated breath.

- Source: Astro Awani