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Rosetta finale set for 30 September


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Rosetta finale set for 30 September

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30 June 2016 Rosetta is set to complete its mission in a controlled descent to the surface of its comet on 30 September.

The mission is coming to an end as a result of the spacecraft’s ever-increasing distance from the Sun and Earth. It is heading out towards the orbit of Jupiter, resulting in significantly reduced solar power to operate the craft and its instruments, and a reduction in bandwidth available to downlink scientific data.

Combined with an ageing spacecraft and payload that have endured the harsh environment of space for over 12 years – not least two years close to a dusty comet – this means that Rosetta is reaching the end of its natural life.

Source: ESA

 

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Thousands of years from now, after mankind has blown itself back to the stone-age then risen again to current technological levels, their probing of this comet may reveal photos a "UFO" laying on it's surface. 

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  • 2 months later...

Rosetta’s descent towards region of active pits

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Squeezing out unique scientific observations until the very end, Rosetta’s thrilling mission will culminate with a descent on 30 September towards a region of active pits on the comet’s ‘head’.

The region, known as Ma’at, lies on the smaller of the two lobes of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. It is home to several active pits more than 100 m in diameter and 50–60 m in depth – where a number of the comet’s dust jets originate.

Source: ESA

 

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Exciting way to end an incredibly successful mission.  ESA has done an amazing job with Rosetta and Philae and hopefully they will have a live feed at the end on 30 SEP

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  • 3 weeks later...

How to Watch Europe's Rosetta Comet Mission Finale

Europe's history-making Rosetta comet mission is coming to an end, and you can watch the grand finale live Thursday and Friday (Sept. 29 and Sept. 30).

Around 6:40 a.m. EDT (1040 GMT) Friday morning, Rosetta is scheduled to spiral slowly down onto the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which the robotic spacecraft has been orbiting for more than two years. You can follow that epic moment live on Space.com — as well a variety of other Rosetta events Thursday and Friday — courtesy of NASA TV and the European Space Agency (ESA).

Read more: Space.com

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Reading the comments it seems many don't agree with the decision to end the mission this way but the science team must feel the data they can gather is worth it and outweighs the possible science Rosetta could do if it survived another, even longer, hibernation.  I think they are making the right decision as the spacecraft has performed incredibly but is now over 12 years old and unlikely to survive another trip through deep space.  Get some new science you never expected to get while you are sure to have an operable craft rather than risk losing it forever to gather more of what you have been observing for the last two years.

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Watch ROSETTA touch down today @10:20 UTC today here

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If all has gone well Rosetta is on the surface of the comet, the mission is over and the fabulous little machine is no more.

It will be 40 minutes before we know for sure.

NASA may still be the best space agency when it comes to robotic exploration of the solar system but Rosetta proves ESA are a very close second.

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Loss of signal. The transmitter can no longer be switched back on. No more data to be received, the mission is at an end.

Farewell Rosetta.

Now there will be years of scientists analysing the data. The mission may be over but the science is far from finished.

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Mission complete: Rosetta’s journey ends in daring descent to comet

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30 September 2016 ESA’s historic Rosetta mission has concluded as planned, with the controlled impact onto the comet it had been investigating for more than two years. 

Confirmation of the end of the mission arrived at ESA’s control centre in Darmstadt, Germany at 11:19 GMT (13:19 CEST) with the loss of Rosetta’s signal upon impact.

Rosetta carried out its final manoeuvre last night at 20:50 GMT (22:50 CEST), setting it on a collision course with the comet from an altitude of about 19 km. Rosetta had targeted a region on the small lobe of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, close to a region of active pits in the Ma’at region.

arrow3.gif  Read More: ESA

 

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Now its just a matter of some far off galactic version of Archeologists to find little Rosetta ...

~

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ESA did a imaginative video titled Ambition reflective of Rosetta on Youtube and also just posted the Epilogue:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H08tGjXNHO4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSdYCPATV9o

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i hope the aliens living inside the comet weren't annoyed by the rosetta crashing. they already made sure the little lander didn't work.

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