It was the first spacecraft ever to orbit a comet nucleus, the first probe to ever fly alongside said comet as it headed towards the inner solar system, and carried the first lander ever to touch down on a comet’s surface, and now plans are in place for Rosetta spacecraft’s grand finale.
As the European Space Agency (ESA) first announced on Thursday, Rosetta’s mission will come to a spectacular close on September 30, as the orbiter will make a controlled descent towards and ultimately crash into the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P).
The decision to bring the mission to a close was made due to the spacecraft’s increasing distance from the Earth and the Sun, the ESA explained. Currently travelling towards Jupiter, Rosetta can no longer gather adequate amounts of solar energy to power of all its systems and instruments to full capabilities, and the distance has also hampered the ability to downlink scientific data.
First launched in March 2004, Rosetta has been subjected to the harsh conditions of space for 12 years, meaning that it was nearing the end of its natural lifespan anyway, the agency added. Thus the decision was made to send the orbiter onto the surface of the comet rather than risk placing it in hibernation as it journeyed more than 850 million kilometres from the Sun.
The Philae lander has been operating on the surface of Comet 67P, and Rosetta will soon join the lander on the comet’s surface. (Credit: ESA)
Preparations for Rosetta’s final descent to begin in August
The surface of comet 67P. (Credit: ESA)
While Rosetta and its Philae lander have already provided scientists with enormous amounts of scientific data, the spacecraft will have one last chance to shine as it makes the final descent, the ESA said. As it spirals towards the comet’s surface, it will have a chance to “make many once-in-a-lifetime measurements, including very-high-resolution imaging,” the agency noted.
During its final moments, officials hope that the orbiter will be able to obtain data that can only be collected during these final moments. Once Rosetta reaches the surface, communications will be terminated and its operations will come to a close. Preparations for its final descent will begin in August, as operators adjust the probe’s trajectory to move it into place for its last hurrah.
“We’re trying to squeeze as many observations in as possible before we run out of solar power,” ESA Rosetta project scientist Matt Taylor said in a statement. “30 September will mark the end of spacecraft operations, but the beginning of the phase where the full focus of the teams will be on science. That is what the Rosetta mission was launched for and we have years of work ahead of us, thoroughly analysing its data.”
“Planning this phase is in fact far more complex than it was for Philae’s landing. The last six weeks will be particularly challenging as we fly eccentric orbits around the comet – in many ways this will be even riskier than the final descent itself,” added Rosetta operations manager Sylvain Lodiot. “The closer we get to the comet, the more influence its non-uniform gravity will have, requiring us to have more control on the trajectory, and therefore more manoeuvres – our planning cycles will have to be executed on much shorter timescales.”
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Image credit: ESA
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