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Waking up Rosetta
Long ago comets frightened people. These "hairy stars" were
unpredictable and mysterious. Most people thought they were
some sort of evil omen.
Ancient people were afraid of comets they were said to bring
bad luck or foretell disaster. We now know comets are small ice
worlds that have been left over from the formation of the planets.
Billions of comets are thought to exist on the edge of the solar
system, beyond the orbit of Pluto.
Most comets are so small and so far away we cannot see
them, even in the biggest telescopes. But we can see them when
they head inwards toward the Sun and grow tails of gas and dust.
The heat of the Sun makes the ices turn into gas that streams
for millions of kilometres into space. Despite their length, the dust
particles they contain are no bigger than grains of sand.
Some comets take only a few years to swing around the Sun.
Some like Halley's Comet take much longer. Others appear
once and are never seen again. The European Space Agencys
(ESA) SOHO spacecraft has been used to discover thousands of
small comets that y very close to the Sun. Many of them crash
into the Sun or are pulled apart by its strong gravity.
Now we know comets are part of our solar system family. They
are made of materials left after the Sun, the planets, and the

moons were formed. Scientists want to nd out all about comets

to help ll in the gaps in our knowledge of how the solar system
formed.
Scientists would like to study comet materials. They would
even like to collect samples of a comet. But bringing a comet
sample back to Earth can change the sample. For example, the
comet sample may heat up during the return through Earth's
atmosphere.
The answer? Let's go to the comet and study it directly.
Of course, such a mission is not easy. In real life, space
scientists explore comets with robotic spacecraft, such as the
Rosetta mission.
In 2014, Europe's Rosetta spacecraft will make history by
going into orbit around a comet and dropping a lander on its
surface.
Rosetta is on its way to 67P/Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko
[CHUR-you-mawv Gear-a-sa-MINK-o]. Rosetta is a mission of
the European Space Agency, with help from NASA. It will study
the comet nucleus for a long time. It will drop a small lander on
the nucleus and orbit for two years. Both orbiter and lander carry
many scientic instruments to learn about the comet and how it
changes as it approaches the Sun.

Rosetta
In March 1986, ESA's Giotto spacecraft ew to within 600km of
comet Halley's nucleus. It sent back the rst close-up pictures
of a comet's icy heart. Now, another ESA spacecraft, named
Rosetta, is on its way to a comet. Rosetta is the most complex
space mission ever own by Europe.
The three tonne spacecraft carries 11 experiments and a
lander, which has another nine experiments. It gets its power from
two huge solar panels, each 14 metres long.
Launched on March 2 2004, Rosetta will take 10 years to
reach comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The roundabout route
includes three ybys of Earth and one of Mars. Rosetta also dips
in and out of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
This enables it to take close-up images of two asteroids, Steins
and Lutetia.
On arrival near the comet, Rosetta will slow down and change
its path so that it enters orbit only a few kilometres above the
solid nucleus of the comet.
Once the comet has been mapped, Rosetta will release its
lander (called Philae). This will anchor itself to the nucleus and
send back the very rst pictures from a comet's surface.
Up above, the orbiter will follow the comet as it speeds toward
the inner solar system. During this 18-month chase, the comet's
frozen ices will turn to gas, sending jets of material shooting
into space. Rosetta will show us for the rst time the dramatic
changes that take place as this iceberg in space is warmed by
the Sun.
Space can be a dark and lonely place, which is why Rosetta is
travelling with a friend! When the spacecraft left Earth 10 years
ago it carried with it a little probe called Philae.

Since its launch 10 years ago, Rosetta has been the star of the
show. The spacecraft has spent the last decade soaring through
the solar system, ying past Mars and Earth several times and
visiting a couple of asteroids, before reaching its nal destination
last month at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
But in November the spotlight will switch to Rosettas probe
Philae, when it heads out on a mission of its own to become the
rst probe ever to land on the surface of a comet.
For several weeks Rosetta has been travelling alongside comet
67P, scouring its surface for the perfect landing site. Scientists
narrowed the search to ve possible areas. On September 15,
Philaes landing place was nally announced.
On August 6, Rosetta sent back the rst close-up photographs
of comet 67P and what they showed surprised everybody. The
comet looks unlike any that has been seen before. It is formed
of two separate parts, which are known as the head and body.
Philaes landing spot is located on the head of the comet.
The unusual shape of the comet makes it a fascinating object
to study, but an exceptionally challenging landing pad. The
landing spot was judged to be the safest site, with gentle slopes,
few boulders and enough sunlight to keep the solar-powered
probe alive.
But the site will also allow Philae to carry out some exciting
science experiments. It will collect samples of the comet to study
in its portal laboratory revealing for the rst time the exact shape
and make-up of a comet!

5 facts about the Rosetta probe and Comet 67P/C-G:

1) This isn't Rosetta's rst cosmic rodeo. Rosetta made three y-bys
of Earth and one of Mars in order to gain enough speed to get past
Jupiter and on its way to meet up with the comet. The spacecraft also
managed to get some interesting views of some asteroids. "After 10
years, ve months and four days travelling towards our destination,
looping around the sun ve times and clocking up 6.4 billion kilometres,
we are delighted to announce, nally, we are here. Europe's Rosetta is
now the rst spacecraft in history to rendezvous with a comet, a major
highlight in exploring our beginnings.
2) Rosetta travelled six billion kilometres to Comet 67P/C-G
Although Rosetta and Comet 67P/C-G are ying about 450 million km
from Earth right now, that number is slightly deceiving. Since its launch
in 2004, Rosetta has been speeding through the solar system on a
twisting journey to catch up with its comet target.
In total, the Rosetta probe spent a decade crossing about 6.4 billion km
to make its historic rendezvous with Comet 67P/C-G on August. 6. The
probe and the comet are now only about 100 km from each other.
3) Rosetta will drop a lander on the comet. At the moment, Rosetta
is carrying a special lander poised to launch to the surface of Comet
67P/C-G in November. Rosetta is currently following a triangular orbit
around the comet; however, it will move into a circular orbit and start
getting closer to the surface of the comet as weeks go on, gearing
up to release the Philae lander. Before Philae touches down, mission
controllers will scope out a series of potential landing spots for the

probe. Once on the surface, Philae will beam back data about the
composition of the comet, getting an up-close-and-personal view of the
cosmic body.
4) Comet 67P/C-G is as big as a mountain.
Rosetta's target comet is 4km wide, meaning that if it were plopped
down on Earth, it would actually be larger that Mount Fuji in Japan,
which checks in at about 3.8km high.
The comet's large size is on display in new photos sent back from
Rosetta after the probe made its historic rendezvous. Objects that look
like rocks on the comet's surface are actually as large as houses.
5) Rosetta's comet is dark and dusty. As it ew toward Comet
67P/C-G, the Rosetta probe collected some interesting data about
the comets possible structure. Scientists now think that the comet
has patches of ice with a dusty, dark crust covering a good portion of
its surface. ESA scientists are still planning to learn more about the
comet's composition using instrumentation as Rosetta gets closer
and closer to the celestial object. The $1.7 billion Rosetta mission is
expected to last until December 2015. Ground controllers monitor the
mission from the ESA centre in Darmstadt, Germany.
"Rosetta will unlock this treasure chest as a clue to many comets in our
solar system. There are trillions out there. This is one we can now study
in such detail we can rewrite history and begin to understand our own
history."

Cool Fact: Look at this

picture of comet 67P.
What do you see?
Many people think it
looks just like a rubber
duck. So many people,
in fact, that rubber
duck has now become
its ofcial nickname.

Rosetta mission facts:

Rosetta gets its name from the famous Rosetta stone that led to the decoding
of Egyptian hieroglyphics almost 200 years ago.
Rosettas original target was comet 46P/Wirtanen, but after postponement of
the initial launch a new target was set: Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Rosetta was the rst spacecraft to y close to Jupiters orbit using only solar
cells as its main power source.
Rosetta will be the rst spacecraft to orbit a comet and land on its surface
The Philae lander is named for the island in the river Nile on which a
monument was found that had a multilingual inscription that enabled the
hieroglyphs of the Rosetta Stone to be deciphered.

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