After Ten Years of Space Travel, European Probe "Rosetta" Enters Orbit Around... A Comet

First time a probe has done so.

Incidentally, I'm not sure "orbit" is the right word. I don't know if the comet is big enough that you can "orbit" around it. But I don't know how to say it properly in the headline.

I also don't feel like looking it up.

I'm not a very ambitious person.

But anyway, those are my problems. The story here is that the probe is traveling in tandem with the comet.

The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft arrived at its target, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, today (Aug. 6) to end a 10-year journey across the solar system. The spacecraft performed an engine burn that brought it about 62 miles (100 kilometers) from the comet's surface.

Comet 67P/C-G and Rosetta are now flying about 251 million miles (450 million kilometers) from Earth. Engineers on the ground had to program the probe to go through a series of complicated burns and maneuvers to make the spacecraft's rendezvous with the comet a possibility.

So here's what this particular comet looks like, from very close by:

It's asymmetrical, lumpy, and beneath my standards.

I would not hit it.

The probe won't just be taking pictures: It's sending down a lander.

Now, Rosetta controllers will scope out different spots on the comet, to find a good place to land the Philae lander, a small spacecraft that is expected to touch down on the surface of the comet this November. Philae will drop to the comet's surface and make measurements of the cosmic body's physical properties.

I can tell you that already. Its body's physical properties are "subpar" and not to my taste.

Oh, here's a snapshot of the comet's mountains, seen from the side.

Eh. Not that full and sumptuous.

posted by Ace at 05:50 PM

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