DARMSTADT, Germany — For the last two years, the Rosetta spacecraft has danced around a comet. Today, it finally made contact with the icy body — and sent its last signal.
The European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta probe ended its historic mission with a controlled descent to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko early this morning (Sept. 30). Scientists here at the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) received the confirmation of landing from the spacecraft at about 1:19 p.m. local time (7:19 a.m. EDT/1119 GMT).
"I can announce the full success of this historic descent," said Patrick Martin, Rosetta mission manager, as he declared mission operations ended. "Farewell Rosetta, you've done the job. That was pure science at its best."
Note: While they are calling it a "landing" they said previously the spacecraft was not designed to land and it would break apart on contact with the comets surface.
Update: NASA has confirmed the craft was being driven by an 90 year old astronaut at the time of the crash and that before that he had his left turn signal on for a few hundred thousand miles.
Update: NASA has confirmed the craft was being driven by an 90 year old astronaut at the time of the crash and that before that he had his left turn signal on for a few hundred thousand miles.
The dimension of the comet are 4.3 by 4.1 km, Wikipedia tells me. It has a mass of ca. 10 × 10^12 kg, i. e., ten trillion tons. The Rosetta spacecraft weighed 3 tons.
I conclude we need not worry about this thing malevolently altering its trajectory to hit some unhappy peasants in NE Nebraska...although I know of just the one that would REALLY deserve it!
The dimension of the comet are 4.3 by 4.1 km, Wikipedia tells me. It has a mass of ca. 10 × 10^12 kg, i. e., ten trillion tons. The Rosetta spacecraft weighed 3 tons.
Yet on the coverage last night, they said the comet was light enough to float on water.
As is Saturn, yet I don't see that one swimming in a lake in the vicinity!
It means the comet's density is lower than water, but when you multiply that with its volume, you still get the ten trillion tons. An object as small (and lightweight) as Rosetta will have no effect on the trajectory of the comet. It furthermore was a soft landing, the probe didn't hi-velo crash into the comet's surface.
Yes, it obviously won't have any effect on the trajectory. I don't know who said that. Even if it were heavy enough to make a difference, it was landed at human walking speed, as you say. I just found it fascinating that such a large and heavy object was light enough to float on water (so do tank ships, you argue, but that's more due to design and air than weight).
One thing is for sure. Their orbits will be one and the same for an awful long time.
We've polluted Earth with our garbage, polluted our orbiting space, now we're polluting neighboring planets, moons, and comets. I see a massive intergalactic lawsuit when the aliens arrive.
The dimension of the comet are 4.3 by 4.1 km, Wikipedia tells me. It has a mass of ca. 10 × 10^12 kg, i. e., ten trillion tons. The Rosetta spacecraft weighed 3 tons.
Yet on the coverage last night, they said the comet was light enough to float on water.
That would depend on density, not weight.
(Ninja'd, of course. But Thor, learn some basic science.)
