Saturday 12 April 2014

SESAME - Surface Electric Sounding and Acoustic Monitoring Experiment

As well as providing several years of geeky suspense from its launch in 2004 until its comet landing later this year, the Rosetta mission is replete with acronyms. One of the most ORCA-worthy of these is SESAME, the Surface Electric Sounding and Acoustic Monitoring Experiments.

Three instruments measure properties of the comet’s outer layers. The Cometary Acoustic Sounding Surface Experiment (CASSE) measures the way in which sound travels through the surface. The Permittivity Probe (PP) investigates its electrical characteristics, and the Dust Impact Monitor (DIM) measures dust falling back to the surface.

Not a space-related word but still a good ad hoc algorithm.

No comments:

Post a Comment