Rosetta Ends a Life of Discovery and Exploration
The European Space Agency's Rosetta mission is over, so let's take a moment to highlight some of what it uncovered about comet 67P before ESA scientists intentionally collided the spacecraft with its icy subject. The ESA's Rosetta mission launched in 2004 and arrived at Comet 67P on August 9, 2014 to become the first spacecraft to orbit a comet.
Then, on November 12, it touched its lander Philae down on the surface -- the first successful comet landing in space exploration history. Granted, the lander wound up in a less-than optimal location, lacking sufficient sunlight or connectivity to Rosetta, but it still provided surface readings and photos before going dark. Rosetta itself continued to provide valuable readings on the comet, including the revelation that the water in 67P's ice is truly unearthly. Specifically, the difference boils down to the comet water's high deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio, meaning that the water from Earth's oceans may not stem from primordial comet bombardments -- a long-held hypothesis. However, Rosetta's discovery of organic molecules in 67P bolsters the idea that some of the rare building blocks of life as we know it could have arrived on Earth via comet strike. These are just two findings from Rosetta's rich spoils of data -- data that scientists will continue to crunch for months or even years to come. Heck, even the craft's final moments produced up-close-and-personal readings of comet 67P. See, in hitching a ride on a comet, Rosetta had been moving farther and farther away from the sun, recharging its batteries with less and less solar radiation.
The ESA scientists could have put the craft in hibernation mode and attempted to stir it back to life when the comet returns sunward in 4 or 5 years, but they decided to send it on a collision course -- a controlled descent into one of comet 67P's uncharted pits. The resulting data should also provide us direct readings of the gasses surrounding the comet and a better read on its ice particle loss. So farewell, Rosetta! Thanks for all you've done and hopefully it'll be a long, peaceful ride till your final resting place collides with another cosmic body.
Then, on November 12, it touched its lander Philae down on the surface -- the first successful comet landing in space exploration history. Granted, the lander wound up in a less-than optimal location, lacking sufficient sunlight or connectivity to Rosetta, but it still provided surface readings and photos before going dark. Rosetta itself continued to provide valuable readings on the comet, including the revelation that the water in 67P's ice is truly unearthly. Specifically, the difference boils down to the comet water's high deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio, meaning that the water from Earth's oceans may not stem from primordial comet bombardments -- a long-held hypothesis. However, Rosetta's discovery of organic molecules in 67P bolsters the idea that some of the rare building blocks of life as we know it could have arrived on Earth via comet strike. These are just two findings from Rosetta's rich spoils of data -- data that scientists will continue to crunch for months or even years to come. Heck, even the craft's final moments produced up-close-and-personal readings of comet 67P. See, in hitching a ride on a comet, Rosetta had been moving farther and farther away from the sun, recharging its batteries with less and less solar radiation.
The ESA scientists could have put the craft in hibernation mode and attempted to stir it back to life when the comet returns sunward in 4 or 5 years, but they decided to send it on a collision course -- a controlled descent into one of comet 67P's uncharted pits. The resulting data should also provide us direct readings of the gasses surrounding the comet and a better read on its ice particle loss. So farewell, Rosetta! Thanks for all you've done and hopefully it'll be a long, peaceful ride till your final resting place collides with another cosmic body.
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