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Comet 67p

All articles tagged with #comet 67p

space20 days ago•11 min saved

Sunlit comet dust masquerades as stars, sending Rosetta into safe mode near 67P

During a 2015 close approach to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, Rosetta’s star trackers mistook sunlit dust grains for bright stars, degrading attitude estimates, causing a day-long loss of reliable sky references, a drift of the high-gain antenna from Earth, and a safe-mode sequence that shut down science instruments. Ground controllers later noted the issue was an optical hazard—false positives rather than real debris—prompting replanned flybys and adjustments to keep Rosetta at safer distances. A similar false-star event occurred again in 2016 before the mission ended with a controlled descent to the comet, illustrating how transient optical effects near an active nucleus can challenge navigation even when the environment is not physically destructive.

via Space Daily|

#comet-67p #false-stars #rosetta

space1 month ago•165 min saved

Philae Found: Rosetta Discovers Long-Lost Lander on Comet 67P

On Sept. 2, 2016, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission located Philae, the long-lost lander that touched down on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014, after nearly two years of searching; Philae had bounced into a shadowed crevice and powered down after about 60 hours, but Rosetta continued to study 67P for 22 months, producing tens of thousands of images before the mission ended with a final descent on the comet.

via Space|

#comet-67p #esa #philae

space4 months ago•10 min saved

Glycine Detected in Comet 67P, Boosting Prebiotic Chemistry Theories

Rosetta’s ROSINA instrument measured the gas around Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and found glycine—the simplest amino acid—along with phosphorus and precursors like methylamine and ethylamine, in what researchers called an unambiguous detection. The description of a “smell” (rotten eggs, ammonia, bitter almonds) reflects a mass-spectrometry readout rather than an actual odor. Most of the coma is odorless water, CO2 and CO, but the presence of glycine and its precursors supports the idea that comets could deliver prebiotic chemistry to early Earth, without proving life or Earth’s origin from space; it strengthens a long-standing hypothesis while noting the large gap between molecules and living systems.

via Space Daily|

#amino-acids #comet-67p #glycine

science1 year ago•1 min saved

Celebrating a Decade Since Humanity's First Touch on a 4.6 Billion-Year-Old Comet

On November 12, 2014, the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission made history when its lander, Philae, successfully touched down on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This marked the first time a human-made object landed on a comet, following a 10-year journey through the solar system covering over 310 million miles. The mission provided valuable images and data from the comet's surface.

via Digital Camera World|

#comet-67p #esa #philae

space-science3 years ago•6 min saved

"Rosetta Orbiter and Lab Confirm Complex Organosulfur Molecules on Comet 67P"

Scientists studying data from the Rosetta orbiter's spectrometer for ion and neutral analysis (ROSINA) instrument have detected large organosulfur molecules on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. They conducted laboratory simulations to show that these molecules could have formed through chemical reactions involving hydrogen sulfide. The findings highlight the significance of cometary sulfur chemistry and its presence in precometary materials, providing insights into the composition of comets and icy small bodies. The James Webb Space Telescope is expected to further enhance our understanding of the chemistry of the solar system and the evolution of such interstellar bodies.

via Phys.org|

#comet-67p #james-webb-space-telescope #laboratory-simulations