Steve Spangler is a bestselling author, STEM educator and Emmy award-winning television personality with more than 2,100 television appearances to his credit. Steve appeared as a regular guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show from 2007-2022. Learn more about Steve at https://stevespangler.com/about-steve-spangler/
The main goal of the Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, is to characterise Jupiter’s icy moons as both planetary objects and possible habitats. But by observing Jupiter’s atmosphere, magnetosphere, and system of moons and rings, the mission will also reveal how different aspects of the planet’s environment affect one another. In this way, Juice will improve our knowledge of Jupiter as a unique planet and as a whole system.
With Jupiter being like a ‘mini solar system’, we will be able to apply this knowledge to our own Solar System and other planetary systems in the Universe, improving our understanding of how gas giants form and behave, and the potential for life to exist on their orbiting worlds. This knowledge will feed into our exoplanet monitoring programme, which currently consists of a trifecta of dedicated missions – Cheops, Plato and Ariel – complemented by Webb.
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We are Europe’s gateway to space. Our mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. Check out https://www.esa.int/ to get up to speed on everything space related.
50 years ago, three NASA astronauts embarked on a journey that would take them “Round the moon and back”. The Apollo 8 mission proved the performance of the command and service module. This historic mission launched on December 21, 1968 to demonstrate a lunar trajectory and was the first crewed launch of the Saturn V rocket. On Christmas Eve, Frank Borman, Jim Lovell, and Bill Anders were the first humans to orbit the Moon and the first to see an Earthrise above its surface.
Right now the Cassini spacecraft is flying between the rings of Saturn and the planet itself, a daring trajectory chosen to conclude a unique exploration mission.
To find out what that orbit means, and to look back at some of Cassini-Huygens finest moments, we met up with key members of the science team in the UK for this edition of Space.
Animation visualising Rosetta’s trajectory around Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, from arrival to mission end.
The animation begins on 31 July 2014, during Rosetta’s final approach to the comet after its ten-year journey through space. The spacecraft arrived at a distance of 100 km on 6 August, from where it gradually approached the comet and entered initial mapping orbits that were needed to select a landing site for Philae. These observations also enabled the first comet science of the mission.The manoeuvres in the lead up to, during and after Philae’s release on 12 November are seen, before Rosetta settled into longer-term science orbits.
In February and March 2015 the spacecraft made several flybys. One of the closest triggered a ‘safe mode’ that forced it to retreat temporarily until it was safe to draw gradually closer again.
The comet’s increased activity in the lead up to and after perihelion in August 2015 meant that Rosetta remained well beyond 100 km for several months.In June 2015, contact was restored with Philae again – albeit temporary, with no permanent link able to be maintained, despite a series of dedicated trajectories flown by Rosetta for several weeks.
Following the closest approach to the Sun, Rosetta made a dayside far excursion some 1500 km from the comet, before re-approaching to closer orbits again, enabled by the reduction in the comet’s activity.
In March–April 2016 Rosetta went on another far excursion, this time on the night side, followed by a close flyby and orbits dedicated to a range of science observations.
In early August the spacecraft started flying elliptical orbits that brought it progressively closer to the comet. On 24 September Rosetta left its close, flyover orbits and switched into the start of a 16 x 23 km orbit that was used to prepare and line up for the final descent.
On the evening of 29 September Rosetta manoeuvred onto a collision course with the comet, beginning the final, slow descent from an altitude of 19 km. It collected scientific data throughout the descent and gently struck the surface at 10:39 GMT on 30 September in the Ma’at region on the comet’s ‘head’, concluding the mission.
The trajectory shown in this animation is created from real data, but the comet rotation is not. Distances are given with respect to the comet centre (except for the zero at the end to indicate completion), but may not necessarily follow the exact comet distance because of natural deviations from the comet’s gravity and outgassing. An arrow indicates the direction to the Sun as the camera viewpoint changes during the animation.
Animation of Rosetta’s trajectory over the last two months of its mission at Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
The animation begins in early August, when the spacecraft started flying elliptical orbits that brought it progressively closer to the comet at its closest approach.
On 24 September 2016, Rosetta will leave its current close, flyover orbits and transfer into the start of a 16 x 23 km orbit that will be used to prepare and line up for the final descent.
On the evening of 29 September (20:50 GMT) Rosetta will manoeuvre onto a collision course with the comet, beginning the descent from an altitude of 19 km. The spacecraft will fall freely, without further manoeuvres, collecting scientific data during the descent.
The trajectory shown here was created from real data provided over the last month, but may not necessarily follow the exact comet distance because of natural deviations from the comet’s gravity and outgassing.
Animation visualising Rosetta’s two-year journey around Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
The animation begins on 31 July 2014, during Rosetta’s final approach to the comet after its ten-year journey through space. The spacecraft arrived at a distance of 100 km on 6 August whereupon it gradually approached the comet and entered initial mapping orbits that were needed to select a landing site for Philae. These observations also enabled the first comet science of the mission. The manoeuvres in the lead up to, during and after Philae’s deployment on 12 November are seen, before Rosetta settled into longer-term science orbits.
In February and March 2015 the spacecraft made several flybys. One of the closest flybys triggered a ‘safe mode’ event that forced it to retreat temporarily until it was safe to gradually draw closer again. The comet’s increased activity in the lead up to and after perihelion in August 2015 meant that Rosetta remained well beyond 100 km distances for several months.
In June 2015, contact was restored with Philae again – albeit temporary, with no permanent link able to be maintained, despite a series of dedicated trajectories flown by Rosetta for several weeks.
Following perihelion, Rosetta performed a dayside far excursion some 1500 km from the comet, before re-approaching to closer orbits again, enabled by the reduction in the comet’s activity. In March–April 2016 Rosetta went on another far excursion, this time on the night side, followed by a close flyby and orbits dedicated to a range of science observations.
The animation finishes at 9 August 2016, before the details of the end of mission orbits were known. A visualisation of the trajectories leading to the final descent to the surface of the comet on 30 September will be provided once available.
The trajectory shown in this animation is created from real data, but the comet rotation is not. An arrow indicates the direction to the Sun as the camera viewpoint changes during the animation.
Rosetta orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko and scanning its surface to make scientific measurements. The colours of the beams and their shape on the surface represent two different instruments imaging and analysing the comet.
The Rosetta orbiter has a total of 11 instruments to study the characteristics and environment of the comet. Rosetta is taking images of the comet at a variety of different wavelengths, measuring its gravity, mass, density, internal structure, shape and rotation, and assessing the properties of its gaseous, dust-laden atmosphere, or coma. It is also probing the surrounding plasma environment and analysing how it interacts with the solar wind.
Rosetta also carries a small lander, Philae, which will descend to the surface of the comet and make in situ measurements using its suite of 10 instruments.
The animation is not to scale; the comet is about 4.1 km wide and Rosetta is 32 m across including its solar wings, and it conducts scientific investigations at a range of altitudes. The comet shape is based on a true comet shape model.
After a ten year journey through space, ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft will reach comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August 2014. After catching up with the comet Rosetta will slightly overtake and enter orbit from the ‘front’ of the comet as both the spacecraft and 67P/CG move along their orbits around the Sun. Rosetta will carry out a complex series of manoeuvres to reduce the separation between the spacecraft and comet from around 100 km to 25-30 km. From this close orbit, detailed mapping will allow scientists to determine the landing site for the mission’s Philae lander. Immediately prior to the deployment of Philae in November, Rosetta will come to within just 2.5 km of the comet’s nucleus.
This animation is not to scale; Rosetta’s solar arrays span 32 m, and the comet is approximately 4 km wide.
