This footage is from 20 January 2014, when ESAâs Rosetta spacecraft awoke from deep space hibernation, more than 800 million kilometres from Earth. After spending 31 months in a power-saving sleep mode to conserve energy while travelling through the cold, outer regions of the Solar System, Rosetta successfully reactivated and sent a signal back to Earth â a simple âHello, world!â that marked the beginning of one of the most ambitious space missions in history. Rosetta went on to become the first spacecraft to rendezvous with a comet (67P/ChuryumovâGerasimenko), orbit it, and deploy a lander, Philae, to its surface.
For a limited time, you can catch a glimpse of Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks, a celestial wonder with a fiery reputation, much like our favorite Khaleesi’s dragons.
This “horned comet,” visible in the Northern Hemisphere until early April, is like a Dothraki khalasar – magnificent, unpredictable, and best seen at dusk.
While you won’t need a Valyrian steel sword, a pair of binoculars or a small telescope will help you see this cosmic marvel in all its glory.
Don’t miss this rare chance to witness a piece of history – Comet 12P/Pons-Brooks won’t return for another 71 years, longer than a lifetime in Westeros!
đč ESA – European Space Agency đž Nielander via Wikimedia Commons
The 30th June marks Asteroid Day, which aims to emphasise the importance of asteroids âtheir role in the formation of our solar system, their impact in space resources and the importance of defending our planet from future impacts. This year we are celebrating along with @UniversalPictures for the release of Wes Andersonâs new movie Asteroid City to bring you all the information you need to know about asteroids and how we protect our planet from them. #AsteroidCityxAsteroidDay #AsteroidDay2023
đč @EuropeanSpaceAgency
â Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe and click twice on the bell button to receive our notifications.
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.
The @NASA/@EuropeanSpaceAgency/@canadianspaceagency James Webb Space Telescope has enabled astronomers get one step closer to the answer by allowing them to detect water vapour around a comet in the main asteroid belt for the first time.
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.
Comets are small objects of loosely packed ice and dust. Sometimes oddly shaped, they can tell us much about the formation of our Solar System. Cometary scientist Charlotte Götz discusses comets, their formation and their study in this week’s episode of Meet the Experts.
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 http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
Discovered in March 2020, Comet NEOWISE became visible to the naked eye in July, gifting observers in the northern hemisphere with one of the most scenic comets in over 20 years. The comet, which is on an almost parabolic orbit and had its closest approach to the Sun, or perihelion, in early July, reaches its closest point to Earth on 22â23 July, before zipping back towards the outer Solar System.
In this video, ESA Research Fellows Rachana Bhatawdekar and Sandor Kruk share their experience and explain how to observe and image the comet in the sky. Next, ESA Research Fellow Charlotte Götz tells us more about comets and their tails, and how ESAâs future Comet Interceptor mission, to be launched in 2028, is going to wait for such a âgreatâ comet that has not been discovered yet. The spacecraft will sit in a parking orbit around the Lagrange point L2, 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth, until an interesting âpristineâ comet visits the inner Solar System. It will then intersect the comet’s orbit to study its nucleus, gases, dust, and plasma environment.
Jump to the different segments of the video: 00:00 – 1:22 – How to see comet NEOWISE 1:23 – 2:42 – How to take a picture of comet NEOWISE 2:43 – 6:17 – Comets and Comet Interceptor
Image credits: Rachana Bhatawdekar, Sandor Kruk, Mark McCaughrean, Kai Noeske (2020) Thumbnail image: Courtesy Mark McCaughrean, 12 July 2020 (Wassenaar, The Netherlands)
â Subscribe: http://bit.ly/ESAsubscribe and click twice on the bell button to receive our notifications.
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 http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
In a fitting tribute to the farthest flyby ever conducted by spacecraft, the Kuiper Belt object 2014 MU69 has been officially named Arrokoth, a Native American term meaning âskyâ in the Powhatan/Algonquian language.
With consent from Powhatan Tribal elders and representatives, NASAâs New Horizons team â whose spacecraft performed the record-breaking reconnaissance of Arrokoth four billion miles from Earth â proposed the name to the International Astronomical Union and Minor Planets Center, the international authority for naming Kuiper Belt objects. The name was announced at a ceremony at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC.
Three years after the Rosetta mission officially ended in 2016, scientists met at ESAâs ESTEC facility in The Netherlands to discuss the latest findings at the final Science Working Team (SWT) meeting.
From the launch in 2004, to its arrival at comet 67P in 2014, Rosetta has been an emotional and inspiring mission. Its findings have furthered our understanding of comets and changed our perceptions of how the Solar System formed.
The mission produced an enormous amount of data which will keep many scientists busy for years. The OSIRIS camera, for example, took 100 000 images. These are archived – with the analysis of images recently providing further insight into the cometâs activity.
Rosettaâs legacy of cometary science and data is not just continuing to produce more work, however, itâs also inspiring the next generation of scientists. Some began working on Rosetta as students and are now taking their experience forward onto ESAâs future Comet Interceptor mission.
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 http://www.esa.int/ESA to get up to speed on everything space related.
Enjoy this compilation of with the last images taken by Rosettaâs high resolution OSIRIS camera during the missionâs final hours at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. As it moved closer towards the surface it scanned across an ancient pit and sent back images showing what would become its final resting place.
Credits: Images: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA â CC BY-SA 4.0
Image compilation: ESAâD. C. Jimeno and M. P. Ayucar
These 210 images reflect Rosettaâs ever-changing view of Comet 67P/ChuryumovâGerasimenko between July 2014 and September 2016.
The sequence begins in the month leading up to Rosettaâs arrival on 6 August, when the comet was barely a few pixels in the field of view. Suddenly, the curious shape was revealed and Rosetta raced to image its surface, coming within 10 km, to find a suitable place for Philae to land just three months later.
Philaeâs landing is featured with the âfarewellâ images taken by both spacecraft of each other shortly after separation, and by Philae as it drew closer to the surface at its first touchdown point. An image taken at the final landing site is also shown.The subsequent images, taken by Rosetta, reflect the varying distance from the comet as well as the cometâs rise and fall in activity as they orbited the Sun.
Before the comet reached its most active phase in August 2015, Rosetta was able to make some close flybys, including one in which the lighting geometry from the Sun was such that the spacecraftâs shadow could be seen on the surface.
Then, owing to the increase of dust in the local environment, Rosetta had to maintain a safer distance and carry out scientific observations from afar, but this also gave some impressive views of the cometâs global activity, including jets and outburst events.
Once the activity began to subside, Rosetta could come closer again and conduct science nearer to the nucleus, including capturing more high-resolution images of the surface, and looking out for changes after this active period.
Eventually, as the comet returned to the colder outer Solar System, so the available solar power to operate Rosetta fell. The mission concluded with Rosetta making its own dramatic descent to the surface on 30 September 2016, the final images taken reflected in the last images shown in this montage.
Credits: ESA/Rosetta/NavCam â CC BY-SA IGO 3.0; ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA; ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA; ESA/Rosetta/Philae/ROLIS/DLR
Watch the amazing cartoon adventures of Rosetta and Philae, now back-to-back in one special feature-length production.
Find out how Rosetta and Philae first got inspired to visit a comet, and follow them on their incredible ten-year journey through the Solar System to their destination, flying around planets and past asteroids along the way. Watch as Philae tries to land on the comet and deals with some unexpected challenges!
Learn about the fascinating observations that Rosetta made as she watched the comet change before her eyes as they got closer to the Sun and then further away again. Finally, wish Rosetta farewell, as she, too, finishes her amazing adventure on the surface of the comet. Keep watching for one last surprise!
Watch the amazing cartoon adventures of Rosetta and Philae, now back-to-back in one special feature-length production.
Find out how Rosetta and Philae first got inspired to visit a comet, and follow them on their incredible ten-year journey through the Solar System to their destination, flying around planets and past asteroids along the way. Watch as Philae tries to land on the comet and deals with some unexpected challenges!
Learn about the fascinating observations that Rosetta made as she watched the comet change before her eyes as they got closer to the Sun and then further away again. Finally, wish Rosetta farewell, as she, too, finishes her amazing adventure on the surface of the comet. Keep watching for one last surprise!
Watch the amazing cartoon adventures of Rosetta and Philae, now back-to-back in one special feature-length production.
Find out how Rosetta and Philae first got inspired to visit a comet, and follow them on their incredible ten-year journey through the Solar System to their destination, flying around planets and past asteroids along the way. Watch as Philae tries to land on the comet and deals with some unexpected challenges!
Learn about the fascinating observations that Rosetta made as she watched the comet change before her eyes as they got closer to the Sun and then further away again. Finally, wish Rosetta farewell, as she, too, finishes her amazing adventure on the surface of the comet. Keep watching for one last surprise!
Watch the amazing cartoon adventures of Rosetta and Philae, now back-to-back in one special feature-length production.
Find out how Rosetta and Philae first got inspired to visit a comet, and follow them on their incredible ten-year journey through the Solar System to their destination, flying around planets and past asteroids along the way. Watch as Philae tries to land on the comet and deals with some unexpected challenges!
Learn about the fascinating observations that Rosetta made as she watched the comet change before her eyes as they got closer to the Sun and then further away again. Finally, wish Rosetta farewell, as she, too, finishes her amazing adventure on the surface of the comet. Keep watching for one last surprise!
Animation visualising Rosettaâs trajectory around Comet 67P/ChuryumovâGerasimenko, from arrival to mission end.
The animation begins on 31 July 2014, during Rosettaâs 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 Philaeâs 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 âsafe modeâ that forced it to retreat temporarily until it was safe to draw gradually closer again.
The cometâs 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 â 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 cometâs activity.
In MarchâApril 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 Maâat region on the cometâs âheadâ, 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 cometâs gravity and outgassing. An arrow indicates the direction to the Sun as the camera viewpoint changes during the animation.
Animation visualising Rosettaâs two-year journey around Comet 67P/ChuryumovâGerasimenko.
The animation begins on 31 July 2014, during Rosettaâs 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 Philaeâs 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 âsafe modeâ event that forced it to retreat temporarily until it was safe to gradually draw closer again. The cometâs 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 â 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 cometâs activity. In MarchâApril 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.
FÞlg Paxi til randen av solsystemet, oppdag kometenes verden og lÊr om det fantastiske Rosetta har pÄ kometen 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
I videoen, som retter seg mot barn mellom 6â12 Ă„r, tar Paxi barna med seg for Ă„ oppdage kometer og Rosetta â det fantastiske ESA-romfartĂžyet som flyr langs kometen 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. 12.11.2014 skal det prĂžve Ă„ slippe en lander pĂ„ denne.
Videoen er den tredje i en serie av animasjoner hvor Paxi, ESAs utdannelsesmaskot, kommer i kontakt med forskjellige sider ved solsystemet, universet, jordens hemmeligheter og mye mer.
This animation of NAVCAM images follows the spacecraftâs approach to the comet from a distance of about 800 km on 1 August to a distance of about 62 km on 22 August 2014.
The movie is a showcase of over one thousand NAVCAM images released today in ESA’s Archive Image Browser: http://imagearchives.esac.esa.int/
Highlights from coverage of ESA’s Rosetta mission soft-landing its Philae probe on a comet, the first time in history that such an extraordinary feat has been achieved.
After a tense wait during the seven-hour descent to the surface of Comet 67P/ChuryumovâGerasimenko, the signal confirming the successful touchdown arrived on Earth at 16:03 GMT (17:03 CET).
Rosettaâs deployment of Philae to land on Comet 67P/ChuryumovâGerasimenko.
The animation begins with Philae still on Rosetta, which will come to within about 22.5 km of the centre of the nucleus to release the lander on 12 November 2014.
The animation then shows Philae being ejected by Rosetta and deploying its own three legs, and follows the landerâs descent until it reaches the target site on the comet about seven hours later.
The animation is speeded up, but the comet rotation is true: in the time it takes for Philae to descend, the nucleus has rotated by more than 180Âș (the cometâs rotation period is 12.4 hours).
The final steps of Philaeâs descent towards the comet are shown as seen by a hypothetical observer close to the landing site on the comet.
Finally, the animation shows Philae landing on the comet.
Because of the cometâs extremely low gravity, landing gear will absorb the small forces of landing while ice screws in the probeâs feet and a harpoon system will lock the probe to the surface. At the same time a thruster on top of the lander will push it down to counteract the impulse of the harpoon imparted in the opposite direction. Once it is anchored to the comet, the lander will begin its primary science mission, based on its 64-hour initial battery lifetime. The animation shows a number of the science instruments in action on the surface.
Acknowledgement: The background image of the sequence showing Philae closing in on the landing site was taken by Rosettaâs OSIRIS narrow-angle camera (ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA) on 14 September 2014 from a distance of about 30 km.
Philae was provided by a consortium led by DLR, MPS, CNES and ASI.
Rosetta will release its Philae lander when approximately 22 kilometres from the centre of the comet. A signal confirming the separation will arrive at ground stations on Earth 28 minutes and 20 seconds later while the landerâs descent to the surface will take seven hours. On the way down, Philae will take a series of images and onboard instruments will sample the dust, gas and plasma close to the cometâs surface and measure any magnetic field.
Philaeâs three lander legs will absorb the momentum of impact and use it to drive an ice screw in each foot into the surface. At the same time two harpoons will fire to lock the probe onto the surface and a small thruster on top will counteract the impulse. Once anchored to the nucleus, Philae will begin its primary science mission, based on its initial battery lifetime of 64 hours.
The SESAME experiment – which contains three instruments – includes one called CASSE, located in the landerâs feet. Harald KRUEGER, Principal Investigator of Rosettaâs SESAME experiment, explains how CASSE will use acoustic waves to determine properties of the cometâs soil.
Within hours of landing, we also hope to see the first ever images of a comet from its surface.
During an October 9 press briefing at NASA headquarters, panelists discussed the Earth and space-based assets that will be in position to observe the October 19 flyby of Mars by comet C/2013 A1, also known as comet Siding Spring. These assets include NASAâs iconic Hubble Space Telescope and spacecraft orbiting and roving Mars.
During the once-in-a-lifetime flyby, Siding Spring will pass within about 88,000 miles (139,500 kilometers) of the Red Planet — less than half the distance between Earth and our moon and less than one-tenth the distance of any known comet flyby of Earth. This proximity will provide an unprecedented opportunity for researchers to gather data on both the comet and its effect on the Martian atmosphere.
Annotated version of the Philaeâs mission at comet 67P animation.
The animation begins with the deployment of Philae from Rosetta at comet 67P/ChuryumovâGerasimenko in November 2014. It will take several hours for it to reach the surface. Because of the cometâs extremely low gravity, landing gear will absorb the small forces of landing while ice screws in the probeâs feet and a harpoon system will lock the probe to the surface. At the same time a thruster on top of the lander will push it down to counteract the impulse of the harpoon imparted in the opposite direction.
Once it is anchored to the comet, the lander will begin its primary science mission, based on its 64-hour initial battery lifetime. The animation shows a number of the science instruments in action on the surface.
Rosettaâs Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by DLR, MPS, CNES and ASI.
The Rosetta mission is now on a race against time to prepare maps and collect data before the Philae lander is due to be sent down to the surface of comet 67P in November. In this edition of Euronews Space, the ‘Comet Hunters’ show us how to orbit a comet, how Rosetta ‘sees’ its target, and what the mission means to the world of science, and to this team in particular.
What happens after Rosetta arrives at comet 67P/ChuryumovâGerasimenko? This animation describes the key dates for the next set of manoeuvres that will bring Rosetta even closer to the comet between August and October.
After arriving on 6 August, Rosetta will follow a set of two, three-legged triangular trajectories that require a small thruster burn at each apex. The legs are about 100 km long and it will take Rosetta between three and four days to complete each one.
The first triangle is conducted at a distance of about 100 km from the comet, the second at around 50 km. Then Rosetta will switch to a âglobal mapping phaseâ at an altitude of about 30 km. During this period, it will make a ânight excursionâ, whereby the ground track of the spacecraft will be on the night-side of the comet (with the spacecraft still fully illuminated the Sun).
In October Rosetta will transfer to a close mapping phase to observe the comet from a distance of 10 km. The spacecraft will move even closer to dispatch lander Philae to the surface in November.
In this animation the comet is an artistâs impression and is not to scale with the spacecraft. The comet rotation is not representative (67P rotates once per 12.4 hours). Dates may be subject to change.
Extended version of Philae touchdown animation to include visualisations of some of the science experiments on the lander.
The animation begins with the deployment of Philae from Rosetta at comet 67P/ChuryumovâGerasimenko in November 2014. Rosetta will come to within about 10 km of the nucleus to deploy Philae, which will take several hours to reach the surface. Because of the cometâs extremely low gravity, landing gear will absorb the small forces of landing while ice screws in the probeâs feet and a harpoon system will lock the probe to the surface. At the same time a thruster on top of the lander will push it down to counteract the impulse of the harpoon imparted in the opposite direction. Once it is anchored to the comet, the lander will begin its primary science mission, based on its 64-hour initial battery lifetime. The animation then shows five of Philaeâs 10 instruments in action: CIVA, ROLIS, SD2, MUPUS and APXS.
Rosettaâs Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by DLR, MPS, CNES and ASI.
Long, long ago men and women on Earth gazed in wonder at comets that appeared in the sky. What where these mysterious objects? Rosetta and Philae learn about the history of comets from their grandfather, Giotto.
We don’t know where you’re going, but we do know that Rosetta is about to arrive at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Join the adventure and share your ‘are we there yet?’ photos to win great prizes.
Animation using a sequence of raw NAVCAM frames from 8 May to 22 June. The NAVCAM has a 5-degree field of view and takes 1024 x 1024 12-bit per pixel images.
The exploits of comet-hunting spacecraft Rosetta are generating intense interest as it speeds towards a dramatic climax this autumn.
The craft will catch up with comet 67p/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, fly alongside, and put a lander on its surface. Throughout this fantastic voyage, Euronews will have special access to the engineers and scientists who are making it happen.
On 20th January Rosetta woke up from two and a half years of hibernation. It was a moment of extreme tension for everyone at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. Strained, nervous faces searched for a signal from a probe in deep space.
After some 45 minutes of anxiety the all-important first signal came through. The scientists burst into energetic applause.
Hace unos dĂas, la sonda Rosetta se reactivĂł tras casi dos años y medio de hibernaciĂłn. La comunidad cientĂfica del mundo entero estaba pendiente de la sala de control en el momento en el que Rosetta, tras reactivarse, enviaba su señal de confirmaciĂłn.
A ocho cientos millones de kilĂłmetros, en algĂșn lugar del espacio, Rosetta se despertaba.
Este proceso tardĂł varias horas, a las 18:18 de la tarde, hora central europea, el equipo del Centro de Operaciones de la Agencia Espacial Europea, en Darmstadt, Alemania, estallaba de alegrĂa.
This short movie tells the story of Rosetta’s journey through the Solar System so far, through the voices of some of the many people involved in this exciting mission. ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft launched in March 2004 and has since been chasing down comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, where it will become the first space mission to orbit a comet, the first to attempt a landing on a comet’s surface, and the first to follow a comet as it swings around the Sun. In the last ten years Rosetta has made 3 flybys of Earth and 1 of Mars, and passed by and imaged asteroids Steins and Lutetia. Operating on solar energy alone, in June 2011 Rosetta was placed into deep space hibernation as it cruised nearly 800 million kilometres from the warmth of the Sun, close to the orbit of Jupiter. On 20 January, Rosetta will wake up at 673 million kilometres from the Sun and about 9 million km from the comet, ready for the next leg of its epic adventure.
Rosetta’s journey from launch in March 2004 to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August 2014, including 3 flybys of Earth and 1 of Mars. By January 2014 Rosetta is about 9 million kilometres from comet 67P/CG. By early May, Rosetta will be 2 million kilometres from the comet and at the end of May the spacecraft will execute a major rendezvous manoeuvre to line it up for orbit insertion at the start of August.
The comet and planets are not to scale.
This animation tracks Rosetta’s journey through the Solar System, using gravity slingshots from Earth and Mars to reach its final destination: Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Rosetta made three flybys of Earth, on 4 March 2005, 13 November 2007 and 13 November 2009, and one of Mars, on 25 February 2007. Rosetta has also visited two asteroids, taking extensive close-up images of 2867 Steins on 5 September 2008 and 21 Lutetia on 10 July 2010. Once the spacecraft is woken up from deep space hibernation on 20 January 2014, it will head for rendezvous with the comet in May. In November the Philae probe will be deployed to the comet surface. Rosetta will follow the comet to its closest distance to the Sun on 13 August 2015 and as it moves back towards the outer Solar System. The nominal mission end is December 2015.
Credits: ESA
This movie shows a sequence of images taken as ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft flew past the main-belt asteroid (21) Lutetia, during the spacecraft’s 10-year journey towards comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
The flyby took place on 10 July 2010, when Rosetta flew past the asteroid at a distance of 3168.2 km and at a relative speed of 15 km/s. The first image shown in the sequence was taken nine and a half hours before closest approach, from a distance of 500 000 km to Lutetia; the last image was taken six minutes after closest approach, at 6300 km from the asteroid.
The OSIRIS camera on board Rosetta has surveyed the part of Lutetia that was visible during the flyby – about half of its entire surface, mostly coinciding with the asteroid’s northern hemisphere. These unique, close-up images have allowed scientists to study the asteroid’s surface morphology, composition and other properties in unprecedented detail.
News conference held Feb. 15 following the flyby of comet Tempel 1 by the Stardust-NExT spacecraft on Valentine’s Day, Feb. 14. The spacecraft’s closest approach was a distance of 112 miles. Participants are: Ed Weiler, NASA’s associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate, Washington; Joe Veverka, Stardust-NExT principal investigator, Cornell University; Tim Larson, Stardust-NExT project manager, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.; Don Brownlee, Stardust-NExT co-investigator, University of Washington, Seattle; and Pete Schultz, Stardust-NExT co-investigator, Brown University.
