VIDEO: NASA developing harpoon to collect comet samples

How would you collect a sample from a comet moving at 150,000 miles per hour and spewing chunks of ice and rock? Researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center are currently in the early stages of developing a new harpoon method to collect samples from the surface of comets without having to land on the comet. In the new design, a spacecraft will rendezvous with a comet, then fire a harpoon to rapidly acquire samples from specific locations while hovering above the target. Using this "standoff" technique would allow samples to be collected, even from areas that are much too rugged or dangerous to permit the landing and safe operation of a spacecraft.