Video: Rosetta's journey around Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko

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 flybys triggered a 'safe mode' event that forced it to retreat temporarily until it was safe to gradually draw closer again. The 's increased activity in the lead up to and after perihelion in August 2015 meant that Rosetta remained well beyond 100 km distances for several months.

In June 2015, contact was restored with Philae again – albeit temporary, with no permanent link able to be maintained, despite a series of dedicated trajectories flown by Rosetta for several weeks.

Credit: ESA

Following perihelion, Rosetta performed a dayside far excursion some 1500 km from the comet, before re-approaching to closer orbits again, enabled by the reduction in the comet's activity. In March–April 2016 Rosetta went on another far excursion, this time on the night side, followed by a and orbits dedicated to a range of science observations.

The animation finishes at 9 August 2016, before the details of the end of mission orbits were known. A visualisation of the trajectories leading to the final descent to the surface of the comet on 30 September will be provided once available.

The trajectory shown in this animation is created from real data, but the comet rotation is not. An arrow indicates the direction to the Sun as the camera viewpoint changes during the animation.

Citation: Video: Rosetta's journey around Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (2016, August 5) retrieved 7 September 2024 from https://phys.org/news/2016-08-video-rosetta-journey-comet-67pchuryumovgerasimenko.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.

Explore further

Video: Rosetta's second year at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

7 shares

Feedback to editors