New comet shape model

A new 3D shape model of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has been released by ESA’s Rosetta archive team today. The model includes images taken by Rosetta’s NAVCAM up until mid-late July 2015, and reveals parts of the comet’s southern hemisphere that were not included in earlier shape models. The release also includes .WRL, OBJ, STL files, which can be used for 3D printing. At the same time, 681 images have been added to the Archive Image Browser covering the period 6 May to 30 June 2015 as part of ESA’s regular monthly release of NAVCAM images. During this period the comet was heading towards perihelion on 13 August, the closest point to the Sun along its orbit, and so the images capture some details of the comet's increasing activity. Taking into account the upcoming seasonal holiday, the next NAVCAM archive release will be made early-mid January 2016. For background information on what a shape model is, read our blog post: A shape model – what’s that?  We hope you enjoy using the updated shape model – do let us know if you've used it for your own projects, or if you have any questions about it, by writing in the comment box below.

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CometWatch 22 November

This week’s Cometwatch entry was taken by Rosetta’s NAVCAM on 22 November 2015 when the spacecraft was 127.7 km from the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The scale is 10.9 m/pixel and the image measures 11.1 km across. The contrast has been lightly enhanced to bring out the comet's activity without losing details of the nucleus. A prominent active region is clearly visible towards the horizon on the right of the nucleus in this orientation, close to the comet’s ‘neck’. Although faint, several diffuse jets of activity can also be seen emanating from the Imhotep region, which is cast in shadow in the foreground. Stretching the contrast of the image even further will reveal these active regions more clearly (but will wash out the nucleus). The comet nucleus is oriented with much of the southern hemisphere visible, facing ‘up’. On the small lobe in the background, the relatively flat region of Wosret can be identified, with a transition through Sobek on the neck into Anhur on the large lobe in the foreground. The original 1024 x 1024 image of today's CometWatch is provided below:  

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NASA’s Webb Space Telescope Receives First Mirror Installation

NASA has successfully installed the first of 18 flight mirrors onto the James Webb Space Telescope, beginning a critical piece of the observatory’s construction.

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Loss of Carbon in Martian Atmosphere Explained

A process involving ultraviolet light from the sun helps explain the ratio of heavier to lighter carbon in Mars' atmosphere and resolve a dilemma about "missing" carbon.

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Strange Star Likely Swarmed by Comets

New clues emerge in the mystery of a star with odd light patterns.

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NASA Statements on Katherine Johnson’s Medal of Freedom

The following is a statement from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden about former NASA mathematician and physicist Katherine Johnson being awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom Tuesday.

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NASA TV to Air Event Marking Arrival of Test Orion Powerhouse

NASA Television will broadcast an event marking the arrival of a full-size test version of the service module provided by the European Space Agency (ESA) for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at 12:30 p.m. EST on Monday, Nov. 30 at the agency’s Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio.

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NASA TV Coverage Set for Fourth Orbital ATK Resupply Mission to Space Station

NASA commercial partner Orbital ATK is targeting Thursday, Dec. 3, for the launch of its fourth contracted mission to the International Space Station under the agency’s Commercial Resupply Services contract. NASA Television coverage of the launch begins at 4:30 p.m. EST.

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NASA Announces Early Stage Innovations Space Technology Research Grants

NASA has selected 15 university-led proposals for the study of innovative, early stage technologies that address high priority needs of America's space program.

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NEOWISE Identifies Greenhouse Gases in Comets

Data from NASA's NEOWISE mission are giving new insights into comet dust, nucleus sizes, and production rates for difficult-to-observe gases like carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide.

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NASA Awards Contract to Restart Development of Engines to Power Agency’s Journey to Mars

NASA selected Aerojet Rocketdyne of Sacramento, California, to restart production of the RS-25 engine for the agency's Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful rocket in the world, and deliver a certified engine. SLS will use four RS-25 engines to carry the agency’s Orion spacecraft and launch explorers on deep space missions.

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Earth Might Have Hairy Dark Matter

Dense filaments of dark matter particles, called "hairs," are sprouting from Earth, according to a new study based on computer simulations.

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NASA Orders SpaceX Crew Mission to International Space Station

NASA took a significant step Friday toward expanding research opportunities aboard the International Space Station with its first mission order from Hawthorne, California based-company SpaceX to launch astronauts from U.S. soil.

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NASA Announces New Public-Private Partnerships to Advance ‘Tipping Point,’ Emerging Space Capabilities

NASA has secured partnerships with 22 U.S. companies through two solicitations to advance the agency’s goals for robotic and human exploration of the solar system by shepherding the development of critical space technologies.

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Satellite Sensors Would Deliver Global Fire Coverage

Wildfires can wreak havoc on human health, property and communities, so it's imperative to detect them as early as possible.

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2015 and 1997 El Ninos: Deja vu, or Something New?

Forecasters say this year's El Niño looks just like the giant event of 1997-98. But when it comes to El Niños, there are no identical twins.

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CometWatch 17 November

Today's CometWatch entry is a NAVCAM image taken on 17 November 2015, when Rosetta was 141.4 km from the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The spacecraft has not been this close to the nucleus since weeks before perihelion, when the increased amounts of dust due to enhanced comet activity started interfering with navigation and Rosetta remained at larger distances from 67P/C-G. The scale is 12.1 m/pixel and the image measures 12.3 km across; the contrast was increased to bring out the comet's activity. In this orientation, the large comet lobe is on the lower left, and the small lobe on the upper right. Outflows of dust are visible around the nucleus, particularly to the left. On the small lobe, the circular depression of Hatmehit is well in sight, pointing to the upper right corner of the image, with the rougher terrains of Bastet visible below and the Wosret region to its left. Abydos, the final resting place of the lander Philae, is roughly at the centre of the small lobe in this view. Hints of Sobek are visible on the comet's neck; on the large lobe are parts of Babi (right), smooth areas on Aker and Khepry (centre), and the more rugged Anhur and Khonsu (left). The original 1024 x 1024 image of today's CometWatch is provided below:

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NASA Awards Grants to Broaden STEM Education for Underserved Students

NASA's Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) has selected four minority serving institutions for cooperative agreement awards totaling approximately $2 million to help strengthen science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) curricula at the schools.

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New York Students Quiz Space Station Crew on Life Off the Earth

Students from East Side Middle School in New York will have the opportunity to speak with NASA astronauts on the International Space Station at 9:40 a.m. EST on Thursday, Nov. 19 during an event hosted by TIME For Kids.

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NASA Receives Fifth Consecutive Clean Audit Opinion

NASA has received an unmodified audit opinion on its Fiscal Year 2015 (FY 2015) financial statements, marking the fifth consecutive year of “clean” opinions. The agency has released its FY 2015 Agency Financial Report (AFR), which provides details on its financial results and performance highlights.

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NASA Astronaut Tim Kopra Available for Interviews Before Space Station Mission

NASA astronaut Tim Kopra, who is making final preparations for a December launch to the International Space Station, is available for live satellite interviews from 7-8 a.m. EST Tuesday, Nov. 24.

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NASA Awards Two Robots to University Groups for R&D Upgrades

Humanoid robots will be helpful to astronauts on our journey to Mars, so NASA has awarded prototypes to two universities for advanced research and development work.

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Reminiscing about the week of comet landing

This time last year saw the end of an extraordinary week at ESA's European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. Hundreds of journalists and reporters had gathered to witness an historic endeavour as on 12 November 2014 the Rosetta orbiter deployed the lander Philae on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In this blog post, some of our media friends reflect on the events of that memorable week and on one evening in particular. Late in the evening on 14 November, two days after Philae had landed (and bounced) on the comet, three social-media eye witnesses joined a small team of ESA communicators sitting just outside the mission control room at ESOC. Keeping an eye on Philae as it completed its scientific operations, they tweeted live what could have been the lander's final contact with Rosetta. They were Emily Lakdawalla, Chris Lintott and Steven Young, who had been reporting during the week for The Planetary Society's blog, for the BBC’s Sky at Night programme and for the UK's Astronomy Now magazine (and Spaceflight Now website), respectively. One year later, we asked them to join us on a trip down memory lane, piecing together their impressions of that hectic week and, in particular, of that remarkable evening. “I expected it to be similar to the Huygens landing, which I also attended, and it was!” Emily told us. “I was anticipating doing daily blog entries as well as tweeting everything I could. Based on past experience at events like Mars landings, I also expected to be helping other members of the media understand the science and the background behind the mission.” Chris also had been at ESOC for the Huygens landing on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005. “That was thrilling, and the chance to be back for another piece of space history was […]

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'Chemical Laptop' Could Search for Signs of Life Outside Earth

A small laptop-sized device is being developed at JPL to look for amino acids and fatty acids, with potential applications in space.

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NASA's Curiosity Mars Rover Heads Toward Active Dunes

The NASA Mars rover that is studying layers of a Martian mountain will soon get its first taste of the "Bagnold Dunes," a dark sea of sand along the mountain's base.

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Todd May Named Marshall Space Flight Center Acting Director

NASA has named Todd May acting director of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, as the agency continues the process of looking for a permanent director.

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CometWatch 12 November – one year on

Today’s CometWatch entry was taken yesterday by Rosetta’s NAVCAM, on the anniversary of Philae’s historic landing on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last year. The image was taken from a distance of 177.7 km; the image scale is 15.1 m/pixel and the image measures 15.5 km across. It has been lightly enhanced to better show the comet’s activity. With Rosetta closer to the comet, more surface details can be seen again. On the large lobe, to the left, the relatively flat surface of Aker can be seen to the top, with Khepry to the left and Babi in the foreground. Hints of Anhur can also just be seen beyond Aker. On the small lobe, the circular depression Hatmehit takes centre stage. Philae’s first touchdown point, Agilkia, is to the lower right of Hatmehit in this orientation, with its final landing site, Abydos, towards the horizon at the top of this view. In case you missed it yesterday, a new animation was released by the lander teams depicting Philae’s impressive flight across the surface of the comet from Agilkia to Abydos. More about the outlook for Philae – and Rosetta – in the months and year ahead can be found in our comet landing anniversary article, here. The original 1024 x 1024 pixel image of today’s Cometwatch entry is provided below:

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Video: science highlights one year since comet landing

This film covers the most recent science news from the Rosetta mission, as well as selected scientific highlights from the last year.  

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As Earth Warms, NASA Targets ‘Other Half’ of Carbon, Climate Equation

During a noon EST media teleconference today, NASA and university scientists will discuss new insights, tools and agency research into key carbon and climate change questions, as the agency ramps up its efforts to understand how Earth’s ocean, forest, and land ecosystems absorb nearly half of emitted carbon dioxide today.

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As Earth Warms, NASA Targets 'Other Half' of Carbon, Climate Equation

During a 9 am PST (noon EST) media teleconference today, NASA and university scientists will discuss new insights, tools and agency research into key carbon and climate change questions.

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Secondhand Spacecraft Has Firsthand Asteroid Experience

NASA's NEOWISE mission has observed 158,000 asteroids and discovered more than 35,000 since December 2009.

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From one comet landing to another: planning Rosetta’s grand finale

As announced in June along with confirmation of the mission’s extension, Rosetta teams are planning to end the operational phase of the mission in a controlled impact of the orbiter on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at the end of September 2016. While the specific details of the trajectories and impact site are still under discussion, ESA’s Rosetta Spacecraft Operations Manager Sylvain Lodiot, Project Scientist Matt Taylor, and mission manager Patrick Martin, share some background information on the planning of this dramatic mission finale. Why will the mission come to an end? Following perihelion in August, Comet 67P/C-G and Rosetta are now moving away from the Sun and back out towards the orbit of Jupiter. This creates a number of challenges: Reduced solar power As the comet recedes from the Sun, the amount of sunlight falling on Rosetta’s solar panels will drop significantly. As the power drops, it will not be possible to operate all of the scientific instruments at the same time. Ultimately, the point will be reached where Rosetta would have to be put back in hibernation, as it was for the 31 months leading up to January 2014. However, this time Rosetta will follow the comet out beyond the orbit of Jupiter on its 6.5-year journey around the Sun, further from its source of power than ever before. On top of this, the spacecraft will have been in space for over 12 years, two of them spent in the comet’s dusty environment, with degradation of the solar arrays expected to further reduce the available power. Solar conjunction By September-October 2016, Rosetta and the comet will appear very close to the Sun as seen from the Earth, making the uplinking of operational commands and the downlinking of scientific data extremely challenging. On 1 October 2016, the spacecraft will […]

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Reconstructing Philae’s flight across the comet

Data from both the Philae lander and Rosetta orbiter experiments, as well as simulation results based on Philae’s mechanical design have been used to reconstruct the lander’s attitude and motion during its descent and touchdowns on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 12 November 2014.  A new animation was presented today, one year after Philae touched down on the comet, focusing on Philae’s dramatic two-hour flight from Agilkia to Abydos – in this blog post we hear from some of the people behind its production. Over the last year, more and more details about exactly what happened have been gleaned from a detailed evaluation of data from various instruments and sensors. These have provided an extensive account of the events from the moment Philae separated from Rosetta, through its seven-hour descent, and the subsequent two-hour flight across the surface that included three touchdowns and a collision. A numerical simulation of Philae, calibrated and verified with test data from a mock-up of the lander, was used to model its interaction with the surface at Agilkia. The subsequent free flight and later bounce dynamics were reconstructed from the trajectory in conjunction with attitude information derived from the ROMAP instrument. Together, these efforts made it possible to determine Philae’s behaviour on 12 November 2014 with sufficient accuracy to make this new visualisation. Philae’s first touchdown on the comet (TD1) at 15:35 UT is constrained by a very precise knowledge of its landing position and orientation based on ROLIS images, the times at which the three feet contacted the surface as measured by SESAME, the vertical dynamics from the damping tube housekeeping data, lander dynamics simulations explaining the footprints imaged later by OSIRIS, outbound attitude reconstructed from ROMAP and RPC-MAG data, and the outbound velocity vector based on a trajectory reconstruction. Felix Finke of DLR, one of […]

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The sound of Philae conducting science

Philae’s SESAME-CASSE ‘listened’ to the lander’s MUPUS instrument hammer the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last November. Martin Knapmeyer from the German Aerospace Centre, DLR, tells us more.   SESAME-CASSE is the Cometary Acoustic Surface Sounding Experiment located in the lander’s feet. It takes the form of three accelerometers, each of which records acceleration in three directions (one vertical and two horizontal). MUPUS comprises the Multi-Purpose Sensors for Surface and Subsurface Science – including the MUPUS penetrator that was activated towards the end of Philae’s first science sequence on 14 November 2014. It was recognized early in the preparation of both experiments that the hammering mechanism of MUPUS, which drives a thermal probe into the comet’s surface, would serve as an acoustic source for ‘sounding’ the subsurface with CASSE. The determination of the propagation velocity of sound would allow scientists to look at possible layering in the comet’s surface and subsurface materials, important for understanding its evolution. The CASSE instrument listened to the hammering of MUPUS for 2h 15 min. Due to memory limitations, CASSE was not able to take continuous recordings, but only a few seconds at a time. Several waiting periods were also included to give MUPUS time to reach depths of 10 cm, 20 cm, and 30 cm. A total of 15 hammer strokes were recorded, and one of the recordings contains two signals (the first sound, left, is heard at about 3 and 9 seconds respectively). The time between the strokes matches the charge time of the hammer mechanism expected at that time, thus this particular recording proves that CASSE was really recording hammer strokes. The second sound file (below) contains hammer stroke no. 129 (as determined from the MUPUS housekeeping catalogue), which was recorded on Philae’s +Y foot. This stroke was executed at the highest energy level of […]

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Rosetta and Philae: one year since landing on a comet

One year since Philae made its historic landing on a comet, mission teams remain hopeful for renewed contact with the lander, while also looking ahead to next year’s grand finale: making a controlled impact of the Rosetta orbiter on the comet. This article is mirrored from the main ESA web portal. Rosetta arrived at Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 6 August 2014, and after an initial survey and selection of a landing site, Philae was delivered to the surface on 12 November. After touching down in the Agilkia region as planned, Philae did not secure itself to the comet, and it bounced to a new location in Abydos. Its flight across the surface is depicted in a new animation, using data collected by Rosetta and Philae to reconstruct the lander’s rotation and attitude (Ed's note: more details on the animation to follow in a dedicated blog post) In the year since landing, a thorough analysis has also now been performed on why Philae bounced. There were three methods to secure it after landing: ice screws, harpoons and a small thruster. The ice screws were designed with relatively soft material in mind, but Agilkia turned out to be very hard and they did not penetrate the surface. The harpoons were capable of working in both softer and harder material. They were supposed to fire on contact and lock Philae to the surface, while a thruster on top of the lander was meant to push it down to counteract the recoil from the harpoon. Attempts to arm the thruster the night before failed: it is thought that a seal did not open, although a sensor failure cannot be excluded. Then, on landing, the harpoons themselves did not fire. “It seems that the problem was either with the four ‘bridge wires’ taking current to ignite the explosive […]

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Upgrade Helps NASA Study Mineral Veins on Mars

Diverse composition of mineral veins at the "Garden City" site investigated by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover suggests multiple episodes of groundwater activity.

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The ups and downs of a comet’s surface

This time last year little was known about Agilkia, the area chosen as Philae's landing site. One year on and the situation has changed, thanks to remote and in-situ measurements that have contributed to building up a picture of this iconic area on the comet. As can be seen from the many results reported in this blog, Rosetta is providing unrivalled information about the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. One team has been looking in particular at the region around where Philae touched down in order to put the lander's results in their correct global context. Agilkia was the name chosen for the 1 km^2 landing ellipse at which Philae was targeted. Last year, as Rosetta drew closer to the comet, smaller and more distinct terrains within this ellipse became apparent. Fiorangela La Forgia, of the University of Padova, Italy, and colleagues have studied images from OSIRIS, the science camera on Rosetta, to define these areas according to their geological appearance. On 12 November 2014, Philae touched down as planned in Agilkia, within a region named Ma'at. (Comet regions, defined according to their geomorphology, have been named after ancient Egyptian deities.) It then rebounded, and after two hours drifting about 100m above the comet surface, it settled into its final position, named Abydos and thought to be located on the other side of the Hatmehit region, close to the border with Bastet. From OSIRIS images, we see that Ma’at, and the neighbouring region Nut, are mainly covered by smooth deposits of fine-grained material. The size of these grains was revealed by the ROLIS images from Philae to be of the order of a few centimetres. Although the depth of this layer is unknown it is probably highly variable across the planet: a 35 m-wide impact crater in the Ash region shows […]

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NASA Holds Media Briefing on Carbon's Role in Earth's Future Climate

A Nov. 12 NASA media telecon will cover latest insights into Earth's response to rising levels of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, and what it means for future climate.

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NASA Holds Media Briefing on Carbon’s Role in Earth’s Future Climate

NASA will host a media teleconference at noon EST on Thursday, Nov. 12 to discuss the latest insights into how Earth is responding to rising levels of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere, and what this means for our future climate.

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Four Months after Pluto Flyby, NASA’s New Horizons Yields Wealth of Discovery

From possible ice volcanoes to twirling moons, NASA’s New Horizons science team is discussing more than 50 exciting discoveries about Pluto at this week’s 47th Annual Meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences in National Harbor, Maryland.

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A fall of comet dust and a field of boulders

From the earliest clear views of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko it was obvious that the surface is a collection of contrasts: smooth plains, imposing craggy cliffs and scatterings of boulders. Rosetta scientists are now digging into the detail to explain how some of these features may have arisen and what this means for our understanding of comets. The study of comet 67P/C-G reveals a dramatic surface environment where considerable amounts of material – up to 1000 kg per second – are ejected from the comet. Not all of this makes it into space, instead some falls back to coat the nucleus. These small, solid particles – typically with sizes ranging from micrometres to tens of centimetres – are ejected when icy material sublimes. As the ice turns from solid to gas, it escapes into space, propelling the solid particles with it. The smallest of these expelled dust grains – millimeter-sized or smaller – obtain sufficient velocity to escape the influence of the comet and become part of the comet’s tail, which can stretch for millions of kilometres through space. But some of the larger particles (centimetre-sized or greater) fall back, meaning that particles from one part of the comet can descend to the surface on another part of the comet’s double-lobed nucleus. This ‘airfall’ creates smooth plains that can be as much as a few metres thick. Nicolas Thomas from Universität Bern, Switzerland, and collaborators have used data from OSIRIS, the science camera on Rosetta, to study these dusty plains. They then used computer models to investigate the mechanisms at work. The neck, where the two lobes join together and which has been named the Hapi region, has been notably active and so provided an obvious site for investigation. Computer models show that particles ejected from Hapi with speeds below 0.8 m/s […]

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NASA's RapidScat Celebrates One-Year Anniversary

The ISS-RapidScat instrument has spent just over a year in space, and has already helped with weather and other forecasts.

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NASA Offers Media Access to Cygnus Cargo Module Nov. 13

Media will have the opportunity to view the Orbital ATK Cygnus spacecraft filled with cargo and research for the International Space Station on Friday, Nov.13, at NASA’s Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility (PHSF) at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

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CometWatch 31 October

Today's CometWatch entry is a NAVCAM image taken on 31 October 2015, when Rosetta was 293.4 km from the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The scale is 25 m/pixel and the image measures 25.6 km across; the contrast was increased to bring out the comet's activity. In this orientation, the comet small lobe is on the right and the large lobe on the left. The image shows interesting surface details of the four regions that were identified on the southern hemisphere after Rosetta started surveying this portion of the nucleus. The flat appearance of the Wosret region, on the small lobe, contrasts with the beautiful pattern of features seen on Sobek, in the 'neck' region. On the large lobe, parts of Anhur along with Khonsu are visible, while portions of two previously known regions, Anubis and Atum, can also be seen towards the top. The original 1024 x 1024 image of today's CometWatch is provided below:

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NASA Mission Reveals Speed of Solar Wind Stripping Martian Atmosphere

NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission has identified the process that appears to have played a key role in the transition of the Martian climate from an early, warm and wet environment that might have supported surface life to the cold, arid planet Mars is today.

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NASA Awards Contract for Space Communication, Navigation Program Support

NASA has selected Arctic Slope Technical Services, Inc. of Beltsville, Maryland, to provide services in support of its Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) program office at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

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NASA Opens Media Accreditation for Orion Service Module Event

NASA has opened media accreditation for a Nov. 30 event marking the arrival of a full-size test version of the service module, provided by ESA (European Space Agency), for NASA’s Orion spacecraft at the agency’s Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio.

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Astronaut Available Today for Live Interviews to Discuss Recruitment, Training

NASA astronaut Anne McClain will be available for live satellite interviews to discuss astronaut recruiting and training from 2 to 3:30 p.m. EST today from NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston. The event will air live on NASA Television.

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Be an Astronaut: NASA Seeks Explorers for Future Space Missions

In anticipation of returning human spaceflight launches to American soil, and in preparation for the agency’s Journey to Mars, NASA announced it will soon begin accepting applications for the next class of astronaut candidates. With more human spacecraft in development in the United States today than at any other time in history, future astronauts

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NASA to Fly, Sail North to Study Plankton-Climate Change Connection

NASA begins a five-year study this month of the annual cycle of phytoplankton and the impact that small airborne particles emitted from the ocean have on the climate-sensitive North Atlantic.

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Radar Images Provide New Details on Halloween Asteroid

The highest-resolution images of asteroid 2015 TB145 yield new information about surface features.

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Whopping Galaxy Cluster Spotted with Help of NASA Telescopes

A giant gathering of galaxies has been spotted 8.5 billion light-years away.

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CometWatch from Gaia

This blog post is based on an image release published on the ESA Space Science portal . On 14 September 2015, Comet 67P/Churyumov Gerasimenko was imaged by Gaia, ESA's billion star surveyor. Located at the Lagrange point L2, 1.5 million km away from Earth in the opposite direction from the Sun, Gaia scans the entire sky about every three months to map the positions and motions of a billion stars in our Galaxy. In the process, the satellite also picks up objects much closer to home, such as asteroids and comets in the solar system, gathering data that will be used to determine their orbits to unprecedented accuracy. Gaia is optimised to detect stars, which appear as point sources in its camera, and measure their properties, but it does not routinely return images of celestial objects. To acquire an image of a particular object, a special trick can be used. This is what Gaia astronomers did to ensure that, when the satellite scanned the patch of the sky including Rosetta's comet, the star-mapper camera would capture an image of this iconic object. “Comet 67P/C-G had just passed its perihelion on 13 August, and calculations predicted that the patch of the sky containing the comet and Rosetta would be scanned by Gaia on 14 September,” comments Fred Jansen, Gaia mission manager and former Rosetta mission manager. “It was a remarkable occasion: Gaia and Rosetta, two ESA science missions separated by over 260 million kilometres, one looking at the other and its object of study.” For this special occasion, the astronomers made sure that Gaia’s star-mapper camera would cover that patch of the sky using a special mode in which a full image is recorded and transmitted to the ground instead of point sources only, as in Gaia's normal science mode. “This […]

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NASA Finds New Way to Track Ocean Currents from Space

NASA and university scientists have developed a new way to use satellite measurements to track changes in Atlantic Ocean currents, which are a driving force in global climate.

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White House, NASA Administrator Statements on 15 Years of Human Habitation Aboard International Space Station

Statements from Dr. John Holdren, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on the 15th anniversary of continuous human habitation on the International Space Station.

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NASA to Announce New Findings on Fate of Mars’ Atmosphere

NASA will provide details of key science findings from the agency’s ongoing exploration of Mars during a news briefing at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Nov. 5 in the James Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

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Astronomy & Astrophysics: Rosetta special issue

A special issue of the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics was published online on Friday, featuring 46 articles based on data collected by Rosetta and Philae in the mission's first year at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Topics covered include the comet's shape and formation theories, the evolution and nature of its activity, the composition of the coma, and the coma's interaction with the solar wind. For a full list of contents, click here. Many of these papers were published over the past few months, and several were already covered by news articles here on the ESA blog and/or the main ESA web portal; you can find the news items linked from the table of contents by clicking on the ‘press release’ button.            

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