Matt Taylor on the Rosetta space mission

The Life Scientific

BBC

Technology, Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Science

4.6 • 1.4K Ratings

🗓️ 17 March 2015

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Matt Taylor talks to Jim Al-Khalili about being in charge of the Rosetta space mission to the distant comet, 67P. It is, he says, 'the sexiest thing alive', after his wife. He describes his joy when, after travelling for ten years and covering four billion miles, the robot, Philae landed on the speeding comet 67P; and turned the image tattooed on his thigh from wishful thinking into a triumph for science. Matt's father, a builder, encouraged him to do well at school. He wanted him to get a job in science and Matt didn't disappoint, joining the European Space Agency in June 2005. His charm and exuberance have brought competing teams together as they fight for their science to have priority on Rosetta. His enthusiasm has helped to spark and fuel a global interest in the mission and he deeply regrets his choice of shirt on one occasion. Producer: Anna Buckley.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast and I'd like to tell you a bit about the
0:03.8	podcast I work on. I'm Dan Clark and I commissioned factual podcasts at the BBC.
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0:36.1	you can always discover more with a podcast on BBC Sounds.
0:39.8	Hello and welcome to the podcast of the Life Scientific.
0:43.4	First broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
0:46.1	I'm Jemalkelely and my mission is to interview the most
0:49.5	fascinating and important scientists alive today and to find out what makes them tick.
0:55.0	On the 12th of November 2014, after an epic 10-year 4 billion mile journey through the solar system, the spacecraft Rosetta met up with
1:05.1	a comet 67 P. Cherumorf-Jorassim-Menko, a mini world of ice and dust the size of
1:11.1	a mountain hurtling through space and about which very little was known.
1:15.0	I for one was utterly captivated during those exciting few hours
1:19.0	when the fillet lander detached itself from the orbiter and spectacularly landed, bounced,
1:25.8	bounced again and finally came to rest on the surface of the comet, to raucous
1:30.1	cheering for many of the scientists involved.
1:33.0	It's one, it's lovely, it's lovely.
1:37.0	Soon after this historic and exciting event,
	...

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