Comet Interceptor space mission
Scientific conferences and seminars are regularly organised at Ventspils High School within the framework of projects carried out.
On April 8, 2024, the VSRC scientific seminar was held at VeA, where Associate Professor Andris Slavinskis of the University of Tartu spoke about the upcoming Comet Interceptor space mission. In cooperation with the European Space Agency, the University of Tartu, involving Ventspils University College, is developing the OPIC instrument. After the planned launch in 2029, the device will linger in space near the Earth, waiting for a suitable comet, upon approaching which it will split into three separate probes in order to study the comet from different sides and distances. The Latvian-founded technology startup “Nanocraft” is modeling the target comet of the European Space Agency’s “Comet Interceptor” spacecraft, its activity and possible flyby scenarios. This is the first time such a mission, the target comet of which is unknown, is being developed. In this project, the startup is committed to providing the Comet Interceptor camera teams OPIC, MIRMIS, and EnVisS with synthetic photorealistic images depicting various comet flybys and potential comet activity. The Comet Interceptor is scheduled to launch into space in 2029. To start cooperation with the European Space Agency, “Nanocraft” participated in the call for proposals for the 2023 Latvian National Programme, which called for the development of new space technology sectors in Latvia. The implementation of the European Space Agency project involves Ventspils University of Applied Sciences and the Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Centre, which are responsible for modeling comet activity, including modeling both the comet atmosphere and the comet tail. Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Centre researcher Karina Šķirmante has previously modeled comet activity in the radio frequency band to assess the feasibility of observing comets with the Irbene radio telescopes. The centre team’s experience in high-performance computing and data processing provides an opportunity to optimize the developed model on the high-performance clusters of the Ventspils International Radio Astronomy Centre. The new project provides the centre team with the opportunity to expand their experience and join the “Comet Interceptor” team of scientists and engineers, thus opening up new opportunities for cooperation.