Today, I've witnessed something spectacular, the waking up of Rosetta, a satellite that underwent a deep space hibernation. I found myself in a very unfamiliar environment, surrounded by a group of people with faith, and a lot of it. In a country where security comes before anything else and at a time where internet and smartphones doesn't exists, under so many unknown circumstances in the outer space, they have faith to build something that was so ahead of their time - a comet chaser they called it. And their faith is so big that it sustains them through the 10 years since launching the satellite, and the pessimism of people around them.
So 20 years later, I have the honour to stumble upon an invitation to the Waking Up Event of Rosetta on facebook that I thought would be interesting for Miss G. I have no idea that it will be a life changing moment for me as well. I came from a place deemed of its great politeness of not saying 'No'. Contrary to my expectations, what I didn't realise is that how personal is the satellite to the people who are at the live event - tears were shed, emotions shown.
It was indeed a day I would never forget and I figure this is worth noting down as I am nearing an end of a journey, which is my student life. So I guess I will start writing again this year. 2013 was a great year for me because I've learnt so much out of it. 2014 on the other hand, is going to be exciting. It will be a year of changes and big decisions are expected to be made, so it will be interesting to see how everything is going to turn out in the end (for me personally), and it will also be interesting if I can have a platform to jot down the small things that contributes to the big picture at the end of 2014 and I can look back at it with a thankful heart.
Here's to 2014 - the beginning of an end.
So 20 years later, I have the honour to stumble upon an invitation to the Waking Up Event of Rosetta on facebook that I thought would be interesting for Miss G. I have no idea that it will be a life changing moment for me as well. I came from a place deemed of its great politeness of not saying 'No'. Contrary to my expectations, what I didn't realise is that how personal is the satellite to the people who are at the live event - tears were shed, emotions shown.
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| Hours of waiting for a slight change in the spectrum detector |
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| And finally the Wake-up signal arrives! #ESA's Rosetta comet chaser has 'phoned home after waking from hibernation. The spike on the spectrum analyser is the carrier signal. Data will be coming soon (a bit slowly 8.7 bits/sec -- because the spacecraft is 800 million kilometres away). From DLR Facebook page. |
Here's to 2014 - the beginning of an end.
