King's Lynn and District Astronomy Society

Promoting astronomy for all ages across West Norfolk

  • Home
  • Events
  • Membership
  • Club Equipment
  • News
  • Gallery
  • Contact Us
    • Committee
  • Links

Thank you Dr Simon Sheridan

24th March 2015 by Andy Milner

Thank you to Dr Simon Sheridan for a really interesting talk last evening for his talk on Rosetta – Landing on a Comet from Planning to Reality.

Special thanks to Ray Price for arranging Dr Sheridans visit last night, the talk on the Rosetta and Philae mission was excellent and being able to see and touch the replica pieces to Ptolemy (Philae Lander) and Beagle 2 and also hold a piece of Mars was fantastic.

Dr Sheridan was really nice guy and his willingness to stay and chat for so long after the talk was an unexpected bonus.

Dr Simon Sheridan’s key activities include:

  • Development of the gas handling and processing system on the Ptolemy instrument (Rosetta Lander)
  • The development of miniature mass spectrometers for sub-surface deployment by either low-speed mole or high-speed penetrator devices
  • The development of Carbon Nano Tube devices for use as low power mass spectrometer ionisation sources

Put simply this guy designed the major parts of Ptolemy which will analyse samples from the comet to help us understand what it is and more about the beginnings of our solar system.

You can follow the ESA team on twitter:-
Ptolemy team:  https://twitter.com/Philae_Ptolemy
and the whole ESA Rosetta Team here https://twitter.com/ESA_Rosetta

Once again a massive thank you to Ray, who unfortunately had to leave early, get well soon.
Clear skies to all.
Gibeon 4.6 Billion year old MeteoriteLunar rock from our Moon!Ptolemy Mass Spectrometer and OvensA Piece of Mars!Beagle 2 replica of InstrumentsWOAH Meteorites!Ptolemy Mass SpectrometerKings Lynn Astro Society - Some of Committee members with Dr Simon Sheridan centered with two thumbs in pockets :)Nakhla Martian MeteoriteReplica of PtolemyGagging to see the Replicas and meteorites3D printed model of Comet 67p
TAP

Filed Under: Astronomy, Events, Space News

About Andy Milner

Amateur Astronomer and Astrophotographer. Social Media Officer at Kings Lynn & District Astronomy Society.

Our Latest News

Effects of the Covid 19 virus

We are pleased to advise that following government guidelines we have resumed our normal meetings at ... Read More

GCSE Astronomy at Springwood High School

Last Summer we were asked if we could assist with the launch of a GCSE Astronomy Course at ... Read More

ASTRONOMY SOCIETY STARGAZING LIVE EVENT A SUCCESS!

Well our Stargazing Live event got off to a good start as we played host to Radio Norfolk’s Treasure ... Read More

Contact Us

t: Alan Gosling on 01553 774394

© Copyright 2017 King's Lynn and District Astronomy Society | Member of the Federation of Astronomical Societies
Patron: Sir Henry Bellingham MP