FIRST LANDING ON A COMET
After a 10-year mission across the cosmos on November 12, the Rosetta space probe, built and launched by the European Space Agency, made history by deploying and landing its Philae mini-lab on the surface of a comet. Travelling at a speed of 135,000 kilometres per hour, the Agency likened the landing on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko to, ‘landing a washing machine on a speeding bullet’.
On March 2, 2004 Rosetta launched with its lander Philae into space on board an Ariane-5 G+ rocket from Europe’s spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. This marked the start of a 10-year journey that would lead Rosetta to its destination comet: 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
On March 4, 2005 Rosetta swung by planet Earth at a distance of 1,954km above the Pacific Ocean. This flyby was the first in a series of ‘gravitational kicks’ that Rosetta would undergo during its journey. The boost was needed to get the spacecraft onto the correct trajectory to be able to meet up with the comet in August 2014.
On February 2007 Rosetta swung by Mars passing just 250km from its surface, and took an unforgettable self-portrait with the Red Planet in the background. On November 2007 Rosetta swung by the Earth once more and whizzed past 5,295km overhead taking beautiful pictures of our planet and the Moon. In September 2008 Rosetta flew by asteroid 2,867 Steins at a distance of 800km during the spacecraft’s excursion through the main asteroid belt, located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
On November 2009 Rosetta skimmed past Earth once again at a distance of 2,481km to pick up its last gravitational boost. At this point, after having flown a little over 4,500 million km of its 7,100 million km journey, Rosetta gained enough energy to achieve its rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
In 2010 Rosetta flew by asteroid Lutetia, its second scientific target, at a distance of 3,162km. Rosetta revealed a battered world of many craters, most probably a primitive survivor from the violent birth of the Solar System. Lutetia’s longest side is around 130km. In 2011 Rosetta entered a long, dark hibernation that will last for two and a half years and during which virtually all systems on the spacecraft are shut down. It woke up on January 19, 2014 as its internal alarm clock woke up the spacecraft.
On March 20, 2014, at about 5 million kilometres distance, Rosetta caught a first glimpse of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, visible as just a little dot in the sky. Between May and August 2014 Rosetta performed a series of complex manoeuvres to reduce the separation between the spacecraft and comet from around 20 million km to 100km. From this close distance, scientists could determine the best landing spot for the Philae lander.
On August 6, Rosetta arrived at the comet and took a series of breath-taking images. 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is a small comet just 4km in its longest dimension, with an incredible duck-like appearance and a diverse surface: a true treasure trove for Rosetta scientists, eager to start their exploration adventure. On September 15, ESA announced the best spot for Philae to land, called ‘J’.
Finally on November 12, the Philae lander was released by the Rosetta spacecraft and touched down on the comet: a first in the history of space exploration. Landing on a comet, a tiny low-gravity celestial body moving at a speed of several tens of thousands of kmph, was never achieved before.
SOURCE: ESA
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