Rosetta space mission - Philae probe due to land on comet on 12th Nov 2014

[editor]

Ooh! This is exciting!

The space probe Rosetta is "right on course" for a spectacular fly-by of the asteroid Steins, the European Space Agency (Esa) has announced.
At 1958 GMT, the deep-space explorer will pass within 802km of its target, according to spokesman Daniel Scuka.

During the fly-by, Rosetta will take pictures and measurements of the irregular shaped asteroid, which will be beamed back 400 million km, to the Esa control room in Darmstadt, Germany.

The timing of the pass means that Steins will be illuminated by the Sun, making it likely the transmitted images will be clear and concise.
The projected separation distance of 802 km is within 2,000m of Esa's target - well within acceptability for the science observations to come.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7599962.stm

 

[editor]

Some pics coming through: http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMNMYO4KKF_index_0.html

 

[Hocus Eye.]

I find this fascinating stuff. There are some interesting short PDF documents on that site containing more information and images of the Rosetta mission.

 

[Limejuice]

Rosetta wakes up today: Jan 20 2014.

Confirmation should be between 17.30 and 18.30 today.

Briefings here: www.livestream.com/eurospaceagency

Fingers crossed.

 

[Balbi]

Is it possible to transmit a cup of coffee out there, sounds like Rosetta needs it.

 

[editor]

Fingers crossed too! This is amazing science.

 

[Limejuice]

About half-way through the expected window.

Not a peep yet.

They're getting restless in the operations room.

A large espresso might have been a good idea.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Forgot all about this probe - fingers crossed it wakes up properly.

 

[Limejuice]

We has a signal.

 

[2hats]

Signal appears to have arrived.

 

[Maurice Picarda]

Seems to have. Nice that it's made them all so happy, even though the coverage is a trifle Eurovision.

 

[editor]

Truly amazing. Now on to the really hard bit.

 

[StoneRoad]

Looking forward to the next stages - hope all goes well

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Good news it is all present and correct.

 

[weltweit]

Impressive stuff.

 

[Crispy]

Animation of the approach and orbit of the comet (scheduled for November)

http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2014/01/Rosetta_s_orbit_around_the_comet

What you're seeing:

The "triangular" phase is not an orbit as such. The comet is only 4km wide so has very slight gravity, so this phase is more like "falling" slowly towards it, whilst manoeuvring around to get a good view. Then it comes in for a 30km radius polar orbit to build up a map of the comet's surface. Finally it comes in closer for the 12km orbit that it will sit in for the rest of the mission. At all times the orbit is kept clear of the sun-shaded side, as that is where the coma (the comet's tail) forms, full of dust and ice that could damage the spacecraft.

I can't believe they're actually going to *land* a smaller probe on the comet itself. It's an amazing mission.

 

[editor]

Ooh! It's a "double" comet!

Europe's Rosetta probe has acquired some sensational new images of the comet it is chasing through space.

The pictures show that 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko appears to be not one but two objects joined together. It is what scientists call a "contact binary".

How the comet came to take this form is unknown.

It is possible that 67P suffered a major fracture at some point in its past; it is also possible the two parts have totally different origins.

What is clear is that the European Space Agency (Esa) mission team now has additional and unexpected considerations as it plans how to land on the comet later this year - not least, which part of the comet should be chosen for contact?

The images in the sequence of nine were acquired last Friday.

They are an interpolation. That is, the "real" pictures are much more pixelated because of the thousands of km that still separate the probe and the comet. The outlines that you see have therefore been "smoothed" to make the scene easy to understand.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27110882

 

[editor]

Amazing.

Rosetta is closing in on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and here's the latest image from the probe's navigation camera. It was taken yesterday from a distance of about 300 km.

 

[editor]

From ESA:

The first temperature measurements of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko were made between 13 and 21 July, when Rosetta closed in from 14 000 km to the comet to just over 5000 km. The observations were made by the spacecraft’s visible, infrared and thermal imaging spectrometer, VIRTIS, and revealed an average surface temperature of –70ºC. This implies the surface is predominantly covered in dust rather than ice, which would yield a lower temperature. The finding does not exclude localised patches of ice. The observations were made when the comet was roughly 555 million kilometres from the Sun.

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2014/08/Rosetta_measures_comet_s_temperature

 

[Crispy]

The rubber ducky comet!

 

[Quartz]

The rubber ducky comet!

It's a trap!

 

[farmerbarleymow]

The rubber ducky comet!

It looks more like a chess piece to me. A giant chess piece hurtling through space.

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

This twitter exchange about Rosetta is quite charming
https://twitter.com/ESA_Rosetta/status/497029988496183296

 

[Quartz]

Fixed link. It's very sweet.

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

Fixed link. It's very sweet.

I love how the space people he chats to on twitter just call him "Captain".

 

[2hats]

The surface looks fascinating...

 

[editor]

Amazing stuff.

 

[editor]

https://www.facebook.com/astronomyn...58988439332/10152534510324333/?type=1&theater

 

[Gingerman]

 

[Crispy]

It's about the size of central London, to give it some scale, from Park Lane to the Tower, Euston Road to the River.