Write An Essay On The Rosetta Comet

On the night of Wednesday, November 12th, 2014, the mission control room was buzzing with excitement with news concerning the spaceprobe, Philae. Philae, a spacecraft from the Rosetta Mission, had finally completed its journey, just barely landing safely on Comet 67P. Ten years ago, this landing was just a dream for the controllers of the European Space Agency, however, it became a reality with the collaboration of many astronautical engineers and scientists.

The Rosetta satellite has been orbiting Comet 67P for the past ten years, taking pictures of the comet and sending the images back to mission control in Noordwijk, Netherlands. The purpose of this mission was to learn more about the seemingly icy surface of the comet to further speculate

These parts allow it to anchor itself properly on the surface of the comet and to gather more detailed information about it. Some of the parts are as follows: the APXS locates alpha particles that were emitted from radioactive decay and uses x-rays to determine the elemental makeup of the comet’s surface; the ÇIVA takes photos of the surface to be sent to mission control; the COSAC identifies the elemental and molecular composition of complex organic molecules that it senses while on the comet; the MUPUS, probably the most important part, uses sensors to measure the density, thermal, and mechanical properties of the surface; the ROMAP surveys the magnetic field and the comet/solar wind interactions; the SD2 drills as far as reasonably possible to collect microscopic samples to be later inspected and evaluated. Philae is also solar power battery

When it did so, everything seemed to be fine. However, when it first reached the surface of the comet, it didn’t land, it bounced. Twice. The reason that mission control wanted it to land in a specific area was to better utilize solar energy for the use of the probe. Although when Philae first landed it wasn’t in the best position, after it bounced twice, its position was even worse. This is because of two reasons: one-- now the probe is in total darkness, and two-- it was, and still is, unable to properly drill into the surface of the comet to anchor itself.

Originally, when notifications were received stating that Philae had not landed in the exact spot that was intended, mission control barely had any idea about the location of Philae. Rosetta had continued orbiting the comet and could not see the probe. It was not until much later that the team at ESA was able to locate Philae and determine that it was roughly two kilometers away from its intended landing target and in complete and utter