AN OUT of this world opportunity to hear from the space engineer who's name and DNA will remain on Comet-67P for eternity is headed to Tamworth's astronomy centre.
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Not only will the public be able to see the comet, which goes around the solar system once every five years, but they'll be able to meet the man who landed a spacecraft on it as part of the Rosetta missions.
University of Sydney's director of space engineering Dr Warwick Holmes' talk is just the start of educational opportunities coming to the astronomy centre, club publicity officer Phil Betts said.
"It's mind-boggling to see what engineering technology can do," he said.
"There is an enormous interest from people with special science backgrounds that want to become involved in the club and share their knowledge.
"It's primary role is to provide an educational facility that anyone can come and use."
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Dr Holmes worked in Europe for three decades exclusively building spacecraft for the European Space Agency.
On the Rosetta project, he was the spacecraft support team leader responsible for giving the final 'go-for-launch' call to the flight operations director in Germany.
The Rosetta spacecraft orbited the sun five times and hurtled through the solar system for more than 8 billion kilometres across a 12-year period to complete its mission.
Back in Australia, he has worked at the University of Sydney School of Aerospace, Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering.
He's been returning to Europe to support operations for the Galileo Global Navigation Satellite System, essentially the European version of GPS.
Mr Betts said everyone's welcome and there will be activities for children on the night. The event is on Saturday from 6pm, tickets are $10 for people over 16.
Visit the Tamworth Regional Astronomy Facebook page for information.
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