Rosetta has caught up with 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Europe's Rosetta probe has arrived at
a comet after a 10-year chase. In a first for space history, the spacecraft was manoeuvred alongside a
speeding body to begin mapping its surface in detail. The spacecraft fired its thrusters for six and a half minutes to finally
catch up with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
"We're at the comet!" said Sylvain Lodiot of the European Space Agency (Esa)
operations centre in Germany.
"After 10 years, five months and four days travelling towards our
destination, looping around the Sun five times and clocking up 6.4 billion km,
we are delighted to announce finally 'we are here'," said Jean-Jacques Dordain,
director general of Esa.
Launched on board an Ariane rocket in March 2004, Rosetta has taken a long route around our Solar System to catch up with comet 67P. In a series of fly-pasts, the probe used the gravity of the Earth and Mars to increase its speed during the 6 billion km chase. After managing a 10-year trek through space with extraordinary accuracy, and after investing more than one billion euros, finally, success.
The signal took nearly 23 minutes to reach Esa and, when it came, it was a dip in a line on a graph.
But this showed that the final burn to reach the comet had finished and this key moment triggered a wave of pride rather than jubilation.
Getting a spacecraft to match the speed of a comet and effectively ride alongside it is a landmark in space exploration. But the hard work starts now...to travel with the comet, study it and interpret zettabytes of data.
For my NASA Junior scientists...Chris and Jonny
Aunt Jeannie ,
ReplyDeleteGreat news , we caught up with the comet . the nasa teacher said it will catch the comet before fall .
Mama says she will bookmark it for us for we will have it when we return home . we are in Reno at our other house and having lots of fun . Daddy is having meeting and mama is making people clean restroom machine and floors . Dadd told poppa to keep a eye on mama , aunt Jeannie daddy is so funny , he know poppa can not to anything with mama and daddy can not do anything with mama .
Thank you so much and we will use it when we get home .We are sending you rainbows and hope the pot of gold is at the end . Love you
Wrote by Jonny
Hello my Junior Scientists,
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great achievement. The more we learn about comets the less we will be afraid of them. It is hard to imagine anything travelling at 34,000 miles per hour, but that is the speed of the comet. And the probe was keeping up with it.
I am happy you guys are having so much fun. If Daddy can't keep up with Mama, you know Poppa can't keep an eye on her. She can move like a tornado when she gets rolling.
I will keep you up to date on Rosetta. Thank you for the beautiful Reno Rainbows and I will use the pot of gold to rescue dogs with my friends at the Humane Society.
Luv you both
Aunt Jeannie
PS: You don't have to be good all the time. You're on vacation..Hahaha!