Being one of the most ambitious missions under the auspices of the European Space Agency, the Rosetta Mission aimed to study Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, henceforth referred to as simply 67P, up close.
Scientists will know, in that way valuable information about its composition and structure, its behaviors. Comets are material remains from the early solar system. Thus, the investigation of such bodies might give clues to scientists into processes that led to the creation of planets and other space bodies.
But it was Rosetta that first orbited a comet and then sent a lander, the probe Philae, onto its surface. The mission lasted for more than 12 years and revolutionised cometary science, making a number of discoveries that remain the foundation on which our understanding of the solar system is based.
What Was the Purpose of the Mission
Rosetta was launched on March 2 2004, aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana. It took more than 10 years to reach Comet 67P, with several gravity assist manoeuvres to gain speed and change direction.
En route, Rosetta would have utilised Earth’s gravity three times and that of Mars once to swing itself comet wards; altogether, it would have covered 6.4 billion kilometres in deep space before it encountered the comet.
In June 2011, Rosetta went into hibernation power-down mode as it moved farther away from the sun in the outer solar system. It stayed that way for 31 months until it fired back up again and started making its way to 67P in January 2014.
Rendezvous and Orbit
It is considered opening new frontiers in space travel as only cometary flybys so far can be made. Still, on August 6, 2014 Rosetta became the first spaceship capable of entering into orbit around a comet.
Entering Open-Channel Orbit
When it did, Rosetta mapped 67P’s surface in exquisite detail and selected multiple possible landing sites for Philae. Scientists have been orbiting the comet for more than two years, in an excellent position to observe its activity while it was approaching the Sun.
Philae’s Bumpy Ride: How It Landed on a Comet
However, it was still a moment in history when Rosetta deployed the Philae lander onto the comet’s surface on November 12, 2014. The landing did not go according to plan.
In such weak gravity, instead of landing firmly, it also bounced off the comet’s surface twice and landed in the shade.
Philae was just able to undertake 64 hours of scientific activity with the inadequate sunlight available on its solar batteries before it started to hibernate. The result of the above is the fantastic outcome of placing Philae Lander: “the first lander ever done on the cometary surface.”.
What Scientists Discovered About the 67P
Rosetta’s instruments have found that 67P is rich in organic molecules, including glycine-an amino acid-phosphorus and complex carbon-based molecules. These are some of the basic building blocks of life and give credibility to the hypothesis that comets can be part of the delivery process carrying the basic elements of life to Earth.
Another surprise was the detection of molecular oxygen, O₂, in 67P’s atmosphere owing to the fact that it was a blow to the existing models of the solar system’s formation. It seemed the oxygen was primordial-that it was trapped in the comet’s ice since the early solar system- more than 4.6 billion years in the past.
Water Analysis
One of the main purposes of the Rosetta mission was to confirm that comets were a source of water for Earth. However, due to the D/H ratio measured in the water vapour on 67P, it did not resemble Earth’s oceans. It hence indicated that Jupiter-family comets, such as 67P, could not be the main source of water on Earth.
This finding directed the scientists towards the asteroids as a new source of water for Earth.
Surface Features and Activity
Rosetta acquired high-resolution images of the surface of 67P, which proved to be rugged, covered by cliffs, pits, dunes, and giant boulders. Active jets of gas and dust flowed out from the comet while it approached the Sun by the process of sublimation.
Collapses of cliffs, forming fractures-all that showed that the surface of the comet is dynamic; it changes all the time.
Rosetta’s Impact: Changing the Way We Study Comets
The official closing of the mission was when Rosetta did a controlled descent on 67P on September 30, 2016. However the collected data will further be analysed over decades and contribute to building blocks for forthcoming cometary research and space missions.
Rosetta redefined our understanding of comets by the fact that confirmation that comets contain complex organic molecules necessary to support life challenged the theory that comets brought water to Earth, took the most detailed images and surface maps of any comet, and showed how a comet evolves due to solar radiation.
It also proved that landing on a comet was possible and that sample return missions might one day bring material gathered from a comet back to Earth for study.
How Did Rosetta Say Goodbye
The mission ended in a collision of Rosetta with 67P on September 30, 2016.
What are the potential comet mission objectives that will be accomplished in the future?
Some possible objectives for comet missions in the future: return comet samples, study new interstellar comets that will be discovered, and demonstrate planetary defence techniques.
Conclusion
The Rosetta mission marked one of the first huge milestones that happened with space exploration. Indeed, it changed humankind’s understanding of the comets-yes, they really do contain organic molecules vital for life and provided an important clue toward the history of the Solar System. Its pioneering technology, including being the first-ever comet landing in the history of humankind, will serve missions that are coming toward comets, asteroids, and interstellar objects.
FAQ
Yes, New Horizons is still active and exploring the Kuiper Belt.
It is a NASA space probe launched in 2006 to study Pluto, its moons, and the Kuiper Belt.
No, it is still in the Kuiper Belt and has not yet reached interstellar space.
Yes, it successfully flew past Pluto in 2015 and Arrokoth in 2019, providing valuable data.