WHEN the Rosetta spacecraft sends its lander to the surface of a comet next month, the lander will follow prearranged orders from Earth. But future spacecraft may be able to do it all on their own.
Kiri Wagstaff and her colleagues at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California have written software that can identify a plume of water vapour on a celestial body鈥檚 surface, with the goal of directing another instrument to make follow-up observations. They tested it on images of Comet Hartley 2 and Saturn鈥檚 moon Enceladus (Astrophysical Journal, ).
Comets, asteroids and icy moons have all shown signs of venting plumes into space. But because these bodies are far from Earth and the jets are not always active, exploring them remotely is challenging. 鈥淭he more spacecraft can do without us, the better they can explore,鈥� Wagstaff says.
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This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淪pacecraft will seek geysers solo鈥�
