News Archive / Tagged: Rosetta

• Germany wraps up a successful year in space

  Tomasz NowakowskiJanuary 3rd, 2015

  The past year – was a very successful and eventful one for the German Aerospace Center (DLR). Germany was active in the field of human spaceflight as the country’s astronaut, Alexander Gerst, spent six months aboard the International Space Station. DLR also played the lead role in the European Space Agency’s (ESA ) Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. […]

• ESA scientist Matt Taylor: Rosetta instrument will make invaluable discoveries

  Tomasz NowakowskiDecember 23rd, 2014

  On Dec. 10, the European Space Agency (ESA ) announced the latest discovery regarding comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. The Rosetta spacecraft that is currently orbiting the comet has found the water vapor from its target to be significantly different to water found on Earth. The discovery made by Rosetta’s Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA ) fuels the […]

• Rosetta reignites debate on the origin of Earth’s water

  SpaceFlight InsiderDecember 12th, 2014

  The European Space Agency’s (ESA) comet-chasing spacecraft, Rosetta, is on a mission of discovery, aiming to unlock the secrets of the early solar system. After deploying its Philae lander on Nov. 12, Rosetta has continued to orbit and analyze Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Scientists have long hypothesized that comets were responsible for supplying the infant Earth with […]

• The search for Philae continues

  SpaceFlight InsiderNovember 27th, 2014

  On Nov. 12, the European Space Agency (ESA) led a mission that achieved the first ever soft landing on the surface of a comet. The mission, two decades in the making, showed us just how difficult space exploration can be. After thruster issues and the lander’s harpoons failed to fire, Philae had to rely on […]

• Philae journeys across a comet, detects organic molecules

  SpaceFlight InsiderNovember 22nd, 2014

  The European Space Agency (ESA ) led a mission that landed on a comet last week. After receiving the initial landing confirmation signal, further analysis showed Philae bounced twice across the surface of Comet 67p/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (comet 67P for short). Philae’s final resting place is not currently known, but after analyzing data from Rosetta’s OSIRIS camera, its […]

• Philae’s farewell

  SpaceFlight InsiderNovember 16th, 2014

  Forty-five years ago, people all over the world gathered around their televisions to watch the first lunar landing. This past week, on Nov. 12, people huddled around laptops, sitting on the edge of their seats, watching what would be the first landing on a comet. Following a ten-year journey across the solar system, and against […]

• OPINION: ESA’s comet landing highlights a public accustomed to less

  Collin SkocikNovember 16th, 2014

  On Nov. 12, 2014, history was made. The Philae lander detached from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft and landed on Comet 67P, or Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This was the culmination of a space project decades in the making. The Rosetta spacecraft was launched on an Ariane 5 rocket on Mar. 2, 2004, from the Guiana Space […]

• Despite safe landing, Philae’s future is uncertain

  SpaceFlight InsiderNovember 14th, 2014

  Almost twenty years of hard work and dedication paid off this week for the European Space Agency (ESA ). On Wednesday, Oct. 12, ESA’s comet-chasing spacecraft, Rosetta, deployed a washing machine-sized lander and achieved the first-ever soft touchdown on the surface of a comet. The team in mission control waited on the edge of their seats for […]

• Rosetta’s Philae lander makes historic comet landing

  SpaceFlight InsiderNovember 12th, 2014

  The European Space Agency (ESA) has been busy this week, preparing for one of its biggest milestones yet. After a decade-long journey, ESA’s comet-chasing Rosetta spacecraft successfully deployed the Philae lander, and achieved the first-ever soft touchdown on the surface of a comet. At 11:03 a.m. EDT (16:03 GMT) on Wednesday Nov. 12, after a seven-hour-long […]

• ESA’s Rosetta mission poised to ‘harpoon’ a comet

  James RiceNovember 11th, 2014

  On Wednesday, Nov. 12, after a journey of nearly 11 years and an estimated 4 billion miles – scientists will attempt its first ever landing upon a comet. This double lobed icy body has been named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and it is about 2.5 miles across. If all goes according to plan, it will be one of the largest […]

• Rosetta’s Philae lander given “green light” for upcoming landing

  SpaceFlight InsiderOctober 18th, 2014

  The European Space Agency (ESA) has officially given the go ahead for Rosetta’s lander, Philae, to touchdown on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The historic landing is now scheduled to occur on Nov. 12, and will mark the first time a spacecraft has landed on the surface of a comet. The chosen landing site, designated “Site J”, is […]

• J marks the spot: ESA unveils Philae’s landing site

  SpaceFlight InsiderSeptember 15th, 2014

  PARIS, France — On August 27, we reported that the European Space Agency (ESA) narrowed down Philae’s potential landing sites to five locations. This morning, ESA announced the primary landing site as well as one backup site during a press conference. On November 11, the lander is scheduled to make history by being the first […]

• Rosetta’s ALICE instrument delivers first data and preliminary map of Comet 67P is revealed

  SpaceFlight InsiderSeptember 11th, 2014

  One of NASA’s four instruments aboard the European Space Agency’s (ESA’s) Rosetta spacecraft has returned its first scientific findings. The ALICE instrument, first began scanning comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko ‘s surface roughly a month ago in an effort to determine the origin, composition, and internal processes to gather data we cannot collect via ground-based or even Earth-orbiting […]

• Rosetta snaps “selfie” above comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

  Jason RhianSeptember 10th, 2014

  The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft and Philae lander have opted to participate in the latest fad by shooting a “selfie” of themselves in orbit above comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. To be able to do this, the spacecraft and its lander utilized the Comet Infrared and Visible Analyzer or “CIVA” which is one of ten scientific instruments […]

• Search for Rosetta’s Philae landing site narrows

  SpaceFlight InsiderAugust 27th, 2014

  Two weeks after the European Space Agency’s (ESA ) Rosetta spacecraft arrived at Comet 67 P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, scientists have been busy gathering data in preparation for an upcoming landing on the comet’s surface. If all goes according to plan, in November, Philae will be the first spacecraft to ever land on the surface of a comet. […]