Rosetta heads for kamikaze* Comet farewell after 12 years
Artist's concept of Rosetta shortly before hitting Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on Sept. 30, 2016.
Credits: ESA/ATG medialab
Quote:
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta mission will come to a dramatic end on Friday, Sept. 30, with a controlled touchdown of the spacecraft on a region of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko known for active pits that spew comet dust into space. Confirmation of the end of mission is expected at about 4:20 a.m. PDT (7:20 a.m. EDT). ESA is ending the mission due to the spacecraft’s ever-increasing distance from the sun, which has resulted in significantly reduced solar power with which to operate the vehicle and its instruments.
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Copious coverage on
NASA TV,
Ustream, etc... some starting @04:45 Eastern. (09:45 here in the UK)
It would be awesome if your touchdown merely bent a wing and you revived on next orbit
but we know cold (amongst other risks) means this is probably a fond final farewell.
Ciao, Rosetta. Say Thanks to Philae, too.
* Actual impact velocity @pprox "at walking pace", lol 