#fun_stuff

Once Upon a Time: The amazing adventures of #Rosetta and #Philae
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/12/23/once-upon-a-time-the-amazing-adventures-of-rosetta-and-philae

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! French version: Italian version: Spanish version: German version (...)

#Comet_67P #Comets #Fun_stuff #Outreach #video

Impressions of #Rosetta’s legacy
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/12/23/impressions-of-rosettas-legacy

In September–October 2016, over 200 people contributed to the #rosetta Legacy campaign, sharing stories, images, videos, creations and experiences to convey what the mission had meant to them. We decided to collect all contributions in an e-book, to keep a long-lasting record of the mission’s impact on a variety of public audiences. This publication presents a collection of these outstanding contributions and provides a taste of Rosetta’s legacy for fellow science communicators, scientists and engineers, educators, space enthusiasts – anyone who was fascinated by the mission. The e-book (pdf, 33MB) is available here. Thanks again to everyone who shared with us their impressions of the mission, and to all followers of Rosetta and #Philae (...)

#Comet_67P #Fun_stuff #Outreach ##rosettalegacy #comet #engagement #inspiration #outreach #philae

#Rosetta’s complete journey – #animation
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/12/23/rosettas-complete-journey-animation

Now in one complete animation: #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 (...)

#Fun_stuff #Operations #video ##CometLanding #flyby #manoeuvre

Reflections
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/12/12/reflections

Some ten weeks have passed since #Rosetta ended its mission on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, and it is time for a little reflection here on the #rosetta #blog... Over the past three years, we have written over 670 posts covering mission operations, science highlights, special events, images of the comet, and so much more. The blog has become a reference for a wide audience, ranging from science journalists to space enthusiasts, from casual readers to educators and even Rosetta mission scientists and operators. Beyond that, it has become a place for people to share their ideas and concerns. When we re-launched the blog in 2013, we did not expect the huge number of #comments that came in – almost 18,600 to date – and certainly we didn’t envision the considerable amount of time (...)

#Fun_stuff

#Rosetta #legacy winner announced
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/11/10/rosetta-legacy-winner-announced

Between 6 September and 7 October 2016, we collected 235 contributions to the #rosetta Legacy tumblr. A huge and sincere thank you to all participants who shared experiences, stories and images of how the mission of Rosetta and #Philae to #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has inspired their lives, including study and career choices, artistic practice and other creative endeavours! The authenticity and ingenuity of the submitted entries was overwhelming, and it has been challenging to pick one top prize winner (apologies for the delay!). One entry in particular caught the attention of the ESA judges for the combination of creative effort and motivation, so we selected Cristina Romero from Spain as the top prize winner. The prize consists in a special visit to #estec, ESA’s technical heart in (...)

#Fun_stuff #Outreach #competition

Rosetta’s deep-space #ringtone
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/11/10/rosettas-deep-space-ringtone

One of the responsibilities of the engineers on any mission’s Flight Control Team is to monitor the spacecraft and react immediately in case of trouble.

#Fun_stuff #Operations #Teams #video #luminaa #nokia #on-call #spacon

Live from Rosetta mission control
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/09/30/live-from-rosetta-mission-control

Live #twitter #periscope visit to the Rosetta mission control team on console in the Main Control Room at #esoc, Darmstadt, Germany, for today’s #CometLanding. Hosted by Daniel Scuka, from the ESA web team. LIVE on #Periscope: Live from Rosetta mission control ▻https://t.co/BXLOwJAAb9 — ESA (@esa) September 30, 2016

#Fun_stuff #media #Operations #video #MCR

#Rosetta #legacy Highlights
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/09/29/rosetta-legacy-highlights

Over the past two years, the #rosetta mission has captured the imagination of many people worldwide, stimulating them to produce art and music, and to undertake other creative activities with friends and families – some even made further education or career choices inspired by the mission. This #video features a selection of contributions that were shared on the Rosetta Legacy tumblr before 21 September 2016: We also asked some of the contributors to tells us more about how the mission influenced their study, career and life in general: The Rosetta Legacy campaign will run until 7 October 2016. Share your stories, images and videos on ▻http://rosetta-legacy.tumblr.com and be in with a chance to win spot prizes (Rosetta and #Philae plush toys) and a visit at ESA’s ESTEC as top prize. 

#Audio #Comet_67P #Comets_and_culture #Fun_stuff #Landing #Outreach #Wake_up #citizens #comet #inspiration #outreach #philae

A comet’s life – a new #sonification from #Rosetta’s #rpc data
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/09/29/a-comets-life-a-new-sonification-from-rosettas-rpc-data

In 2014, shortly after Rosetta’s arrival at #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the magnetometer on the Rosetta #plasma Consortium (RPC) suite of #Instruments, #RPC-Mag, detected some surprising oscillations in the plasma surrounding the nucleus, revealing the comet’s mysterious “song”. Now, after two years of monitoring the plasma around the comet, the RPC team present a new song based on data collected during the entire mission, describing the comet’s evolution from the point of view of Rosetta’s magnetometer. While the nucleus of Comet 67P/C-G is itself not magnetised, as measured by plasma instruments on both Rosetta and the lander Philae, it is embedded in the interplanetary #magnetic_field carried throughout the Solar System by the solar wind – a continuous flow of electrically charged (...)

#Audio #Fun_stuff #Science #diamagnetic_cavity #music #singing_comet #waves

Real life trumps animation
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/09/28/real-life-trumps-animation

An ‘insider tale’ from the Flight Control team, who are already reminiscing about their favourite moments from Rosetta’s epic journey.

#Fun_stuff #Images #Outreach #Science #armelle #celestia #flyby #hubault #lutetia

#ambition – Epilogue: The Journey Continues
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/09/28/ambition-epilogue-the-journey-continues

After her long, arduous training, our young Apprentice is now a fully fledged Master of cosmic origins, exploring an alien planet rich with water and life. But something familiar crosses her mind. Memories from her training, and #Rosetta’s historic journey to catch a #comet. She returns to the archives. Once again, ESA and Fish Ladder/Platige Image blur the lines between science fiction and science fact in this epilogue to their award-winning 2014 short #film, Ambition, which portrayed the scientific questions and technical challenges, and above all, the human determination that make exploration of the Universe such a compelling theme. The epilogue is directed by Maciej Jackiewicz and stars Aisling Franciosi (The Fall, Game of Thrones). Credits: A Fish Ladder/Platige Image & European (...)

#Comet_67P #Comets_and_culture #Fun_stuff #Landing #video ##CometLanding #rosetta #sci-fi

#Rosetta in numbers
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/09/27/rosetta-in-numbers

Some impressive numbers from #rosetta's mission. Click for full res! Summary Rosetta’s mission lasted 12 years 6 months and 28 days, from launch on 2 March 2004 to mission end on 30 September 2016. During that time, the spacecraft travelled some 7.9 billion km, including three gravity assist flybys at Earth and one at Mars, and two asteroid flybys. Travelling from Earth and eventually out towards the orbit of Jupiter, the vast distance between the spacecraft and the Sun, and spacecraft and Earth, has impacted on available solar power and data downlink capabilities respectively, as detailed in the graphic. The majority of remaining figures shown apply to Rosetta’s time at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, between 6 August 2014 and the end of September 2016, although navigation camera images (...)

#Fun_stuff #Operations #Outreach #Science ##LivingWithAComet #ground-based_observations #manoeuvre #science

What does the #Rosetta mission mean to you?
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/09/06/what-does-the-rosetta-mission-mean-to-you

To celebrate the success of #rosetta and to keep a long-lasting record of its impact on the world, we invite you to share your personal experiences and feelings about how the mission has influenced you. Perhaps you followed the mission via this blog, the news or other social media channels, and found a special link between the spacecraft visiting #Comet_67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko and your own experience. Maybe you’ve been stimulated to create art, music, or a theatrical production, or perhaps you brought Rosetta and #Philae into your every day life at home through creative activities or games with your children. Or did you learn about the mission at school? Maybe you based a project on Rosetta and #philae’s adventures, or even made a further education or career choice inspired by the (...)

#Fun_stuff #Outreach #comet #competition #legacy #public

New Vangelis album inspired by ESA’s #Rosetta mission
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/07/29/new-vangelis-album-inspired-by-esas-rosetta-mission

Legendary composer and pioneer of electronic #music Vangelis has produced a brand new album, ‘Rosetta’, inspired by ESA’s #rosetta mission. The release of the album by Decca Records on 23 September coincides with the culmination of Rosetta’s 12-year mission to orbit and land its #Philae probe on #comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta is set to complete its journey in a controlled descent to the surface of the comet on 30 September. The story of this mission fuelled Vangelis’ long-held passion for space and inspired him to create his first new studio album in 18 years. Vangelis’ music is often linked to themes of science, history and exploration. Alongside his Academy Award-winning score for ‘Chariots of Fire’, he has written for the films including ‘Antarctica’, ‘1492: Conquest of Paradise’, (...)

#Comets_and_culture #Fun_stuff ##CometLanding ##perihelion2015 #lander #philae

Artistic tributes to the #Rosetta mission
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/05/12/artistic-tributes-to-rosetta

Over the past two years, #rosetta has approached, reached and followed #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, collecting unprecedented images and other scientific data and dropping the #Philae lander on to its surface to perform in-situ measurements. While communicating the mission’s milestones, operational activities and scientific results via this blog and other social media channels, we have been pleased with the enormous impact that the mission had – and still has – on the public. Among the many comments, questions and feedback we have received over the months, there were also some special messages: they came from artists across the world, who had been especially impressed and inspired by the incredible adventure of Rosetta and #philae. They had spontaneously dedicated paintings, poems, (...)

#Comets_and_culture #Fun_stuff #art #comet #music #poetry #tribute

#CometWatch 18-19 December
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2016/01/08/cometwatch-18-19-december

Today’s CometWatch entry is a double feature, showing two #navcam #Images taken about twelve hours apart, on 18 and 19 December 2015, when #Rosetta was around one hundred km from the #comet nucleus. While, at first sight, the two images look quite similar, a closer inspection will reveal one interesting difference... Can you spot it? Both images focus on the #Imhotep region, located on the comet’s large lobe. Imhotep is one of the most geologically complex and diverse portions of 67P/C-G, presenting both smooth and rocky terrains, small and large circular features, and over 200 boulders. The difference between these two CometWatch images is to be found in one of Imhotep’s large circular features – also known as accumulation basins – in particular, in the one just to the top right of the (...)

#Comet_67P #Fun_stuff #activity #rosetta

Reminiscing about the week of #comet #Landing
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/11/17/reminiscing-about-the-week-of-comet-landing

This time last year saw the end of an extraordinary week at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. Hundreds of journalists and reporters had gathered to witness an historic endeavour as on 12 November 2014 the #Rosetta orbiter deployed the lander #Philae on the surface of #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In this blog post, some of our media friends reflect on the events of that memorable week and on one evening in particular. Late in the evening on 14 November, two days after #philae had landed (and bounced) on the comet, three social-media eye-witnesses joined a small team of ESA communicators sitting just outside the mission control room at #esoc. Keeping an eye on Philae as it completed its scientific operations, they tweeted live what could have been the (...)

#Fun_stuff ##CometLanding #landing #rosetta

The story behind the #Rosetta ‘claymation’
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/10/27/the-story-behind-the-rosetta-claymation

Earlier this month, the Royal Observatory Greenwich, UK, released a wonderful educational #video about the #rosetta Mission using ‘claymation’ – animated clay figures. It was a big hit with the Rosetta team and so we caught up with Elizabeth Avery, senior manager of Astronomy Education at the ROG and one of the minds behind the video, to learn more about how it was put together. The same team at the ROG has also since released a complementary video called Space Rocks, about asteroids, #Comets, meteors, and meteorites. You can watch both videos as part of this post. What made you choose to focus on the Rosetta mission for this video? We have a very long list of things we would love to make videos about, so it is always a huge challenge to choose just one topic. When we were first thinking of (...)

#Fun_stuff #Landing #Philae #Science ##CometLanding #comet #philae #science

#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

How we heard from #Philae
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/06/15/how-we-heard-from-philae

I picked up the phone and said: ’This has to be bad news. We’ve got a safe mode, don’t we?’ He replied, ’Well, maybe not. Maybe it’s good news!’

#Estrack/DSN #Fun_stuff #Operations #goldstone #hubault #relay #timeline #urbaneck #wake-up

Happy birthday, Svetlana!
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/02/23/happy-birthday-svetlana

We wish a happy birthday to #Svetlana_Gerasimenko, who back in 1969 discovered Rosetta’s #comet, along with Klim Churyumov. Read more about Svetlana in this interview from the summer of 2014.

#Comet_67P #Fun_stuff #On_this_day

Happy birthday, Klim!
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/02/19/happy-birthday-klim

We wish a happy birthday to #Klim_Churyumov, co-discoverer along with Svetlana Gerasimenko of Rosetta’s #comet, in September 1969.

#Comet_67P #Fun_stuff #On_this_day

Happy New Year!
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/01/06/happy-new-year

We’re back! After a pause over the festive period to recharge our batteries (hoping that Philae will soon do the same), the #Rosetta blog has now reopened for business. Welcome back to all of you! Before we preview the exciting year ahead for Rosetta, we’d like to kindly remind you of some blog house rules: Please keep all comments relevant to the blog post that you’re commenting on (repeated posting of similarly themed and irrelevant comments on multiple posts will be considered as spamming or trolling and will be trashed). Please use respectful language when responding to other comments. If you disagree with something, that’s fine, but any comments that are considered aggressive or unnecessarily rude will not be published. Constructive criticism is welcome! While speculation of what you (...)

#Fun_stuff

Year-end break
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/12/19/year-end-break

A short note from the blog team here at ESA: we expect to take a year-end break between Monday, 22 December 2014 and Monday, 5 January 2015.

#Fun_stuff #Rosetta #rosetta

#music of the Irregular Spheres
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/12/19/music-of-the-irregular-spheres

This blog post is contributed by Mark McCaughrean, senior science advisor in the Directorate of Science and Robotic Exploration at ESA. The rather tortured title of this post is intended as a humorous reference to the decidedly non-spherical shape of #Comet_67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the target of our #Rosetta mission. It also refers to the philosophical concept of ‘musica universalis’ or ‘music of the spheres’, usually attributed to Pythagoras, Ptolemy, and other ancient philosophers and scientists. They suggested that the proportions of the distances of the celestial bodies in the Solar System thought to be orbiting the Earth could be assigned tones, much as the pitch of a note coming from a plucked string is related to the length of that string. This theory was later developed further by (...)

#Comets #Comets_and_culture #Fun_stuff #culture_and_history #rosetta #soundcloud