Comet-Chasing Spacecraft Rosetta Finally Arrives at its Destination

First Posted: Aug 06, 2014 08:07 AM EDT
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The European Space Agency's comet-chasing spacecraft Rosetta finally arrived at its destination comet after a decade-long journey.

In a latest announcement, ESA reported that the comet-chasing probe and its destination comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasiomenko currently lies just 405 kilometers away from Earth - mid-way between the orbits of Jupiter and Mars. The comet is making its way towards the inner solar system at 55,000 km per hour.

Currently, Rosetta is just 100 km from the surface of the comet and will continue to move closer. Over the next six weeks, the team says that it will describe two triangular-shaped trajectories in front of the comet, first at a distance of 100 km and then at 50 km. Rosetta will attempt a close, near-circular orbit at 30 km and, depending on the activity of the comet, perhaps come even closer.

"After ten years, five months and four days travelling towards our destination, looping around the Sun five times and clocking up 6.4 billion kilometres, we are delighted to announce finally 'we are here'," said Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA's Director General.  "Europe's Rosetta is now the first spacecraft in history to rendezvous with a comet, a major highlight in exploring our origins. The discoveries can begin."

Rosetta will accompany the comet, an elliptical 6.5-year orbit, for more than a year. After two years of deep space hibernation, Rosetta captured the first glimpse of the comet that indicated that the probe was heading towards the right direction. The latest images captured revealed that the nucleus of the target comet is 4km wide, an irregularly-shaped body.

Rosetta was launched on March 2004 by ESA. The robotic probe will conduct a detailed study of the comet. During its journey to the comet, Rosetta performed two successful asteroid flyby missions and most of its journey was spent in hibernation in order to conserve energy for its further mission.

"Today's achievement is a result of a huge international endeavour spanning several decades," said Alvaro Giménez, ESA's Director of Science and Robotic Exploration.  "We have come an extraordinarily long way since the mission concept was first discussed in the late 1970s and approved in 1993, and now we are ready to open a treasure chest of scientific discovery that is destined to rewrite the textbooks on comets for even more decades to come."

During its journey to its destination comet, Rosetta also passed by asteroid Steins and Lutetia - providing unprecedented views and scientific data on these cosmic objects.

See Now: NASA's Juno Spacecraft's Rendezvous With Jupiter's Mammoth Cyclone

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