{"id":13270,"date":"2016-09-30T14:05:22","date_gmt":"2016-09-30T18:05:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13270"},"modified":"2016-09-30T14:05:22","modified_gmt":"2016-09-30T18:05:22","slug":"esa-rosetta-mission-ends-with-spacecraft-impacting-the-surface-of-comet-67pc-g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=13270","title":{"rendered":"ESA Rosetta mission ends with spacecraft impacting the surface of Comet 67P\/C-G"},"content":{"rendered":"

The European Space Agency (ESA) ended the\u00a0Rosetta<\/a>\u00a0mission to Comet 67P\/Churyumov\u2013Gerasimenko today by maneuvering the spacecraft onto (or, more likely, into) the surface of the comet:\u00a0Mission complete: Rosetta\u2019s journey ends in daring descent to comet –\u00a0ESA<\/a><\/p>\n

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Comet landing site: Sequence of images captured by Rosetta during its descent to the surface of Comet 67P\/C-G on 30 September.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

ESA\u2019s historic Rosetta mission has concluded as planned, with the controlled impact onto the comet it had been investigating for more than two years.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Confirmation of the end of the mission arrived at ESA\u2019s control centre in Darmstadt, Germany at 11:19 GMT (13:19 CEST) with the loss of Rosetta\u2019s signal upon impact.<\/em><\/p>\n

Rosetta carried out its final manoeuvre last night at 20:50 GMT (22:50 CEST), setting it on a collision course with the comet from an altitude of about 19 km. Rosetta had targeted a region on the small lobe of Comet 67P\/Churyumov\u2013Gerasimenko, close to a region of active pits in the Ma\u2019at region.<\/em><\/p>\n

The descent gave Rosetta the opportunity to study the comet\u2019s gas, dust and plasma environment very close to its surface, as well as take very high-resolution images.<\/em><\/p>\n

Pits are of particular interest because they play an important role in the comet\u2019s activity. They also provide a unique window into its internal building blocks.<\/em><\/p>\n

The information collected on the descent to this fascinating region was returned to Earth before the impact. It is now no longer possible to communicate with the spacecraft.<\/em><\/p>\n

This video shows the trajectory that led the spacecraft into the comet:<\/p>\n