Watch: ESA’s Rosseta’s countdown to historic comet landing

Mangalore Today News Network

Washington, Nov 12, 2014: For the first time in scientific history, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft will help land a robotic probe called ’Philae lander’ on a comet Wednesday.

 

The Rosetta’s mission Philae lander is scheduled to touch down on the comet known as 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Wednesday at 10.35 a.m. (EST). Watch the Webcast live from mission control

Rosetta is built and launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) to perform a detailed study of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko with both an orbiter and lander module. The spacecraft was launched on 2 March 2004 on an Ariane 5 rocket and reached the comet on 6 August 2014, becoming the first spacecraft to orbit a comet.

After touchdown on Nov 12, the Philae lander will obtain the first images of Rosetta ever taken from a comet’s surface.

It will also drill into the surface to study the composition and witness close up how a comet changes form as its exposure to the sun varies.

While Philae can remain active on the surface for about two-and-half days, its mother ship, the Rosetta spacecraft, will remain in orbit around the comet till 2015.

The orbiter will continue detailed studies of the comet as it approaches the sun and then moves away.

The landing site, formerly known simply as Site J, now has an official name: Agilkia.

According to the US space agency, the name refers to an island on the Nile where ancient buildings were relocated after the island Philae flooded.

 

Courtesy: Zeenews