The Surface of Comet 67P/C-G From the Rosetta Probe

Imgur ^ | 10/25/2014 | Imgur

[Dallas59]

For scale

[Dallas59]

In November 1993, the International Rosetta Mission was approved as a Cornerstone Mission in ESA's Horizons 2000 Science Programme.

Since then, scientists and engineers from all over Europe and the United States have been combining their talents to build an orbiter and a lander for this unique expedition to unravel the secrets of a mysterious 'mini' ice world – a comet.

Initially scheduled for January 2003, the launch of Rosetta had been postponed due to a failure of an Ariane rocket in December 2002. The adventure began March 2004, when a European Ariane 5 rocket lifted off from Kourou in French Guiana.

During a circuitous ten-year trek across the Solar System, Rosetta will cross the asteroid belt and travel into deep space, more than five times Earth’s distance from the Sun. Its destination will be a periodic comet known as Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

The Rosetta orbiter will rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and remain in close proximity to the icy nucleus as it plunges towards the warmer inner reaches of the Sun’s domain. At the same time, a small lander will be released onto the surface of this mysterious cosmic iceberg.

More than a year will pass before the remarkable mission draws to a close in December 2015. By then, both the spacecraft and the comet will have circled the Sun and be on their way out of the inner Solar System.

[Dallas59]

More photos here

[mabarker1]

Cool, I just heard about this last night on TV. Should be interesting to watch.

[sr4402]

Why are the boulders sticking to it?

[RIghtwardHo]

WOW!! This is epic!

[Dallas59]

Slight gravitational pull. About one ten-thousandth of that on Earth.

[Dallas59]

[Dallas59]

Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko, officially designated 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko and sometimes shortened to 67P/C-G, is a comet with a current orbital period of 6.45 years and a rotation period of approximately 12.4 hours. The comet will next come to perihelion (closest approach to the Sun) on 13 August 2015. Like all comets, it is named after its discoverers, Klim Ivanovych Churyumov and Svetlana Ivanovna Gerasimenko, who first observed it on photographic plates in 1969.

Churyumov-Gerasimenko is the destination of the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission, launched on 2 March 2004. The Rosetta spacecraft rendezvoused with the comet on 6 August 2014 and entered orbit on 10 September 2014. Rosetta '​s lander, Philae, is scheduled to land on the comet's surface on 12 November 2014.

[RIghtwardHo]

So VERY cool!!!

[Dallas59]

Rosetta Comet probe and lander...

[bubbacluck]

...expedition to unravel the secrets of a mysterious 'mini' ice world – a comet.

At least from what I see in the photo, it looks more rock than ice. Is the ice underneath?

[Bringbackthedraft]

OMG, I see sheep?

[Dallas59]

The surface of the nucleus is generally dry, dusty or rocky, suggesting that the ices are hidden beneath a surface crust several metres thick. In addition to the gases already mentioned, the nuclei contain a variety of organic compounds, which may include methanol, hydrogen cyanide, formaldehyde, ethanol, and ethane and perhaps more complex molecules such as long-chain hydrocarbons and amino acids.

[Flick Lives]

OMG, I see sheep?

They'll have to rename the comet Little Bo Peep.

[Yardstick]

*bump*

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

Because its surface gravity is greater than the centrifugal force caused by its rotation about its axes (sic) and any tidal forces exerted by the sun.

[Dallas59]

Big alien sheep!

[Dallas59]

[Dallas59]

Apparently the gasses just sort of ooze out like a fog. No geysers like in the movies.

[Jack Hydrazine]