Estonian camera will fly on a space mission to study comets

The construction of the OPIC camera—an instrument developed in Estonia for the European space mission Comet Interceptor—has been completed at the Tartu Observatory of the University of Estonia. The project was developed over eight years. The Comet Interceptor mission will consist of a main spacecraft and two probes, designated B1 and B2. The OPIC camera will be installed on the B2 probe alongside instruments provided by other European partners. "In 2018, we began developing the mission concept in collaboration with other European planetary scientists. The primary goal of the mission is to capture—for the first time in history—a comet originating from the Öpik-Oort Cloud as it enters the inner Solar System. Such comets carry material that has remained unchanged for 4.6 billion years. We hope to obtain unique information about the formation of the Solar System—including our planet—and the building blocks of life," said Mihkel Pajusalu, Head of the Space Technology Department at the Tartu Observatory and Associate Professor in Space Technology. The mission launch is planned for the turn of 2028 and 2029. The spacecraft will head to the Sun–Earth L2 Lagrange point, located about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. The L2 point is used for space observations due to its stable gravitational conditions, enabling long-term probe operations. The system developed in Estonia will operate autonomously. Due to communication delays in deep space, the camera itself will analyze the images it takes and select scientifically relevant materials to send back to Earth. "The camera must make decisions independently and extremely quickly in space—that's what sets OPIC apart technologically. Our task is to capture a comet moving at speeds of up to 80 km/s. When the comet approaches, the main spacecraft will send the probes on a collision course with the comet. They will fly past the comet at immense speed and from a very close distance. The Estonian camera on the B2 probe will get closest to the comet and photograph it from a distance of 300 kilometers, which in cosmic terms is practically a stone's throw away," added Pajusalu