The road to a comet isn't an easy one! Luckily Rosetta and Philae have a lot of help.
…and that time is now! ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft is just over a mere two weeks away from its arrival at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (which has recently surprised everyone with its binary “rubber duckie” shape) and the excitement continues to grow — and rightfully so, since after ten years traveling through the Solar System Rosetta is finally going to achieve its goal of being the first spacecraft to orbit a comet!
As part of the “Are We There Yet” campaign to encourage public participation in this historic space exploration event, ESA has released the next installment of Rosetta’s story in adorable animated format. Check it out above, and feel free to fall in love with a solar-powered spacecraft.
Keep up with Rosetta’s journey on the ESA website here, and enter the #RosettaAreWeThereYet contest by sharing your photos here (you could win a trip to ESA’s Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany in November for Philae’s landing party!)
Video: ESA
Recent Posts
These New Computer Simulations of the Sun are Hypnotic
It's almost impossible to over-emphasize the primal, raging, natural power of a star. Our Sun…
JWST Scans an Ultra-Hot Jupiter’s Atmosphere
When astronomers discovered WASP-18b in 2009, they uncovered one of the most unusual planets ever…
You Can Detect Tsunamis as They Push the Atmosphere Around
Anyone who's ever lived along a coastline or been at sea knows the effects of…
Exactly How Massive is the Milky Way?
What is the mass of the Milky Way? What do you get if you add…
If You’re Going to Visit Venus, Why Not Include an Asteroid Flyby Too?
A recent study submitted to Acta Astronautica examines the prospect of designing a Venus mission…
ESA is Testing How Iron Burns in Weightlessness
What happens when you burn iron in space? The European Space Agency is torching iron…