Rosetta catches up to comet 67P
6 Aug 2014 by Evoluted New Media
Comet-chaser Rosetta has completed its decade-long journey and finally met up with comet 67P.
The European Space Agency spacecraft has become the first to rendezvous with a comet, opening up a new chapter in Solar System exploration.
"After 10 years, five months and four days travelling towards our destination, looping around the Sun five times and clocking up 6.4 billion km, we are delighted to announce finally 'we are here'," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of ESA.
Rosetta began to beam back details about the comet on its approach, revealing a variable activity and a nucleus of two segments – leading it to be dubbed the ‘rubber duck’.
“Our first clear views of the comet have given us plenty to think about,” said Matt Taylor, ESA’s Rosetta project scientist.
“Is this double-lobed structure built from two separate comets that came together in the Solar System’s history, or is it one comet that has eroded dramatically and asymmetrically over time? Rosetta, by design, is in the best place to study one of those unique objects.”
Rosetta is now just 100 km from the comet’s surface, but will hopefully move to within 50km in the next six weeks before placing the Philae lander on the surface towards the end of the year.
Philae contains a wide range of scientific instruments and will send back a panorama of its surroundings and well as high resolution images of the surface. It will analyse the composition of ices and organic material using its on-board laboratory, drilling down to 23cm below the surface.
“Once the Philae lander touches down on the comet, we will be looking for evidence recorded in remnants of debris that survived the processes of planet formation. This is not merely a period of pre-history, but one that pre-dates the origin of life itself. Our quest is to gain insights into this transitional era, which took place more than 4.5 billion years ago,” said Ian Wright, Professor of Planetary Sciences at The Open University.
Rosetta will continue to escort the comet as it moves closer to the sun, monitoring its ever-changing conditions as it warms up and its ice melts.
Rosetta launched in March 2004, and was awoken from a 31-month-long sleep earlier this year before racing 9m km to catch up with the comet.
