#arrival

#CometWatch 6 August – Two years on
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/08/08/cometwatch-6-august-two-years-on

Two incredible years have passed since ESA’s #comet-chaser #Rosetta arrived at #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 6 August 2014. During that time #rosetta has mapped the comet’s curious shape and given us awe-inspiring views from near and far, spotting changes in its surface features and watching as jets of gas and dust stream out in to space – sometimes unexpectedly as sudden outbursts. The spacecraft has performed daring close flybys and made distant excursions to sample gas, dust and plasma at a range of distances, giving unparalleled insight into the processes that operate at the comet and how it interacts with its environment as it hurtles through space. In two years, the comet has travelled around 1.5 billion km along its orbit around the Sun, passing through perihelion last August – (...)

#Arrival #On_this_day #navcam

Celebrating two years at the comet
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/08/05/celebrating-two-years-at-the-comet

We’re celebrating #Rosetta’s two year anniversary at #Comet_67P/C-G (tomorrow!) with a new animation visualising the spacecraft’s incredible adventure flying alongside the comet. 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 (...)

#Arrival #Operations ##CometLanding ##LivingWithAComet ##perihelion2015 ##WakeUpRosetta #orbit #timeline #trajectory

#CometWatch 6 August
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/08/11/cometwatch-6-august

Today’s CometWatch entry is an image of #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken on 6 August 2015, exactly a year to the day of #Rosetta's historic rendezvous. The image was taken 261 km from the #comet centre. Currently, the comet is around 186 million km from the Sun, and it will reach #perihelion – the closest point to the Sun along its orbit – next Thursday. This image shows an intense comet activity, with prominent outflows and jets of material and the unlit patches of the nucleus standing out as a silhouette against the overall bright background. Due to the increased concentration of gas and dust over the last few months, #rosetta is now studying the comet from safer distances, and is currently operating some 300 km out. In the spirit of celebrating Rosetta’s first year at the comet, we (...)

#Arrival #Comets #Fun_stuff #Images #On_this_day ##perihelion2015 #navcam

Celebrating a year at the #comet
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/08/06/celebrating-a-year-at-the-comet

This article is mirrored from the main ESA Web Portal ESA’s #Rosetta mission today celebrates one year at #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, with its closest approach to the Sun now just one week away. It’s been a long but exciting journey for #rosetta since its launch in 2004, featuring Earth, Mars and two asteroid flybys before arriving at its ultimate destination on 6 August 2014. Over the following months, the mission became the first ever to orbit a comet and the first to soft land a probe – #Philae – on its surface. The mission teams have had to overcome many challenges in learning to fly in an unpredictable and sometimes inhospitable environment, and the spacecraft has returned a wealth of outstanding scientific data from this intriguing comet, spanning its interior, the dramatic surface (...)

#Arrival #Comets #CometWatch #Images #Instruments #media #On_this_day #Operations #Science ##CometLanding ##CometWatch ##RosettaAreWeThereYet ##WakeUpRosetta #flyby #instruments #lander #landing_day #philae #science #trajectory #wake-up