http://www.space.com/34206-rosetta-spacecraft-crashing-into-comet-friday.html

The first spacecraft to orbit a comet will end its historic mission on Friday (Sept. 30) with a crash landing.

The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta probe has circled Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for the last two years, collecting observations of the primitive chunk of dust and ice. This week, Rosetta will complete a final set of maneuvers to put the craft on a collision course with the comet.

ESA managers said they hope to land Rosetta near active pits on an area at the “head” of the duck-shaped comet. Those pits are dotted with lumpy structures known as “goose bumps,” and they produce jets of gas and dust. Comets are among the most ancient bodies in the solar system, and studying their composition and structure could lead to a better understanding of how the sun and planets were formed.

They’re going to try to collide nice & slowly so they can take lots of snaps on the way in.

Bubblecar said:

They’re going to try to collide nice & slowly so they can take lots of snaps on the way in.

I hope so.

See also
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_s_descent_towards_region_of_active_pits

Note: web link to Rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov is flagged as unsafe.

mollwollfumble said:

Bubblecar said:

They’re going to try to collide nice & slowly so they can take lots of snaps on the way in.

I hope so.

See also
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_s_descent_towards_region_of_active_pits

Note: web link to Rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov is flagged as unsafe.

Duh, it’s about to crash

dv said:

mollwollfumble said:

Bubblecar said:

They’re going to try to collide nice & slowly so they can take lots of snaps on the way in.

I hope so.

See also
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_s_descent_towards_region_of_active_pits

Note: web link to Rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov is flagged as unsafe.

Duh, it’s about to crash

More a controlled descent into terrain.

mollwollfumble said:

Bubblecar said:

They’re going to try to collide nice & slowly so they can take lots of snaps on the way in.

I hope so.

See also
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_s_descent_towards_region_of_active_pits

Don’t forget to click “continue” on above web link. See also the FAQ page:

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_s_grand_finale_frequently_asked_questions

When?

mollwollfumble said:

When?

today

https://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/live/2016/sep/30/rosetta-space-probe-to-end-mission-with-comet-landing-live

CrazyNeutrino said:

mollwollfumble said:

When?

today

https://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/live/2016/sep/30/rosetta-space-probe-to-end-mission-with-comet-landing-live

https://twitter.com/esa

CrazyNeutrino said:

CrazyNeutrino said:

mollwollfumble said:

When?

today

https://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/live/2016/sep/30/rosetta-space-probe-to-end-mission-with-comet-landing-live

https://twitter.com/esa

So, about two and a half hours?

How do they know that comets are amongst the most ancient things within the universe?

monkey skipper said:

How do they know that comets are amongst the most ancient things within the universe?

Amongst the most ancient bits of the solar system, not the universe.

They judge this from the idea that they are bits and pieces left over from the system’s formation, which is backed up by their composition.

monkey skipper said:

How do they know that comets are amongst the most ancient things within the universe?

Um. Good question. There have been at least two sample return missions from comets. But probably first because of their orbits, initial orbits in every old system are random like the comets, becoming more dislike over time as more energy is lost like Saturn’s rings.

Disk-like

NASA TV of the Rosetta crash has started. (PS I could be out on crash time).

www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv

mollwollfumble said:

NASA TV of the Rosetta crash has started. (PS I could be out on crash time).

www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv

2.5 km away close-up of the pit now.

(One question, when the comet ways up on next orbit, will it stream of gas and dust from the pit eject rosetta from the surface?)

Magnificent image taken a short while ago, just 16km from the surface.

29 minutes to impact.

Live streaming from ESA:

http://rosetta.esa.int/

Roestta may bounce, but we won’t know because contact is lost on impact.

Bubblecar said:

Live streaming from ESA:

http://rosetta.esa.int/

NASA TV is echoing ESA. Images from 1 km up now.

Bubblecar said:

Roestta may bounce, but we won’t know because contact is lost on impact.

Rosetta.

They have every right to be proud, it’s been a brilliant mission.

At 1.17 km the images had 2 cm/pixel.
These images are 1:20 compressed relative to the previous images.
Less than 6 minurtes to go.

6 minutes to go.

Bubblecar said:

They have every right to be proud, it’s been a brilliant mission.

I’ve given it 7.5, don’t know what the Russian judge gave it, they tend to deduct a lot of points for a bad landing.

We’ve landed.

Lots of hugs.

Bubblecar said:

Lots of hugs.

Who’s getting hugs?

kii said:

Bubblecar said:

Lots of hugs.

Who’s getting hugs?

All the people who put together this excellent space mission.

The comet from 1.2 km away, showing the hole towards which Rosetta was headed.

The larding site is on the right of this image.

Bubblecar said:

kii said:

Bubblecar said:

Lots of hugs.

Who’s getting hugs?

All the people who put together this excellent space mission.

Ah, rightio. Brain is not awake even though it’s been an hour since Grace woke me by licking my toes.

Latest image heights above ground, aproximate.
1.17 km
750 m narrow angle
500 m narrow angle – 1 cm per pixel
390 m wide angle
10 m (narrow angle?)
5 m (narrow angle?)

Check here for the images as they’re released:

http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Missions/Rosetta/(class)/image

• The larding site is on the right of this image.

Rosetta’s last ever image, taken from 51 metres away, inevitably out of focus. Image measures 2.4 metres across.

Bubblecar said:

Magnificent image taken a short while ago, just 16km from the surface.

I like this image.

monkey skipper said:

Bubblecar said:

Magnificent image taken a short while ago, just 16km from the surface.

I like this image.

I wonder what the bright white bit is at the mid top section of the image.

monkey skipper said:

monkey skipper said:

Bubblecar said:

Magnificent image taken a short while ago, just 16km from the surface.

I like this image.

I wonder what the bright white bit is at the mid top section of the image.

artifact on the image. it isn’t a part of the comet.

Nice one.

I think one of the things that surprised me about the comet is that some surfaces are so smooth and soft.

dv said:

Nice one.

I think one of the things that surprised me about the comet is that some surfaces are so smooth and soft.

I think landing on a comet would be great and doing a space walk as well as investigating the terrain etc.

monkey skipper said:

dv said:

Nice one.

I think one of the things that surprised me about the comet is that some surfaces are so smooth and soft.

I think landing on a comet would be great and doing a space walk as well as investigating the terrain etc.

The gravity is far too low; you could easily make a small jump and exceed the escape velocity of the comet.

monkey skipper said:

Bubblecar said:

Magnificent image taken a short while ago, just 16km from the surface.

I like this image.

Now way that’s way to big for a comet. Staged, just like the moon landing . . probably done in NZ if I had to guess.

Bubblecar said:

Rosetta’s last ever image, taken from 51 metres away, inevitably out of focus. Image measures 2.4 metres across.

Now corrected to 20 metres away instead of 51 metres. 5 mm per pixel. Out of focus because the camera is set for a focus distance near infinity rather than a few metres. The ESA will deconvolve the image to get proper focus later.

mollwollfumble said:

Latest image heights above ground, aproximate.
1.17 km
750 m narrow angle
500 m narrow angle – 1 cm per pixel
390 m wide angle
10 m (narrow angle?)
5 m (narrow angle?)

That 10 and 5 m must be wrong. I took those from what was said on the streamed video.

There was a tantalising image in the streamed video showing a series of ten or more rectangles superposed on a larger image. I take these to be planned image positions coming in for a crash. So at a guess they took small images at altitudes of about
20 m
70 m
120 m
170 m
220 m
270 m
320 m
Before the well known one at 390 m.

What I want to know at this stage is what the latest images tell us about the “goosebumps” in the pit?

Requirements for Rosetta and Huygens are less strict. When Cassini-Huygens was launched in 1997, scientists thought that life was simply too unlikely to exist on the cold Titan. They therefore labelled the project low risk, with no sterilisation procedures considered necessary. However, according to COSPAR rules, the spacecraft was assembled in a clean room, that is, with less than 100 000 particles per unit of volume.
Rosetta is a similar case. “Sterilisation is generally not crucial since comets are usually regarded as objects where you can find prebiotic molecules, that is, molecules that are precursors of life, but not living microorganisms,” explains Gerhard Schwehm, Rosetta’s Project Scientist. On the other hand, Rosetta has to perform delicate experiments on the comet and scientists do not want the results to be spoiled, so cleanliness is required.

http://sci.esa.int/home/30313-no-bugs-please-this-is-a-clean-planet/

Seems a bit bold, given how little we know.

dv said:

Requirements for Rosetta and Huygens are less strict. When Cassini-Huygens was launched in 1997, scientists thought that life was simply too unlikely to exist on the cold Titan. They therefore labelled the project low risk, with no sterilisation procedures considered necessary. However, according to COSPAR rules, the spacecraft was assembled in a clean room, that is, with less than 100 000 particles per unit of volume.
Rosetta is a similar case. “Sterilisation is generally not crucial since comets are usually regarded as objects where you can find prebiotic molecules, that is, molecules that are precursors of life, but not living microorganisms,” explains Gerhard Schwehm, Rosetta’s Project Scientist. On the other hand, Rosetta has to perform delicate experiments on the comet and scientists do not want the results to be spoiled, so cleanliness is required.

http://sci.esa.int/home/30313-no-bugs-please-this-is-a-clean-planet/

Seems a bit bold, given how little we know.

I wouldn’t fancy life’s chances on such a small unstable world.