sciencetech-blog

comments

Philae may have taken the limelight following its landing on comet 67P, but its orbiting spacecraft, Rosetta, still has a few of its own daring manoeuvres to complete.

In February, flight engineers in Darmstadt, Germany plan to bring the Rosetta spacecraft down to an incredible 4 miles (6km) from the comet's surface.

This will be the closest the comet explorer will come to 67P throughout its mission, and could provide stunning views of the cliffs and craters.

Scroll down for video 

This animation shows comet 67P, with overlay boxes indicating the fields of view of three Rosetta cameras

Up until now, Rosetta's closet view of the comet has been six miles (10 km), which occurred shortly before releasing the Philae lander.

Its orbit currently ranges between 12.4 miles and 18.6 miles (20 km and 50 km) as it monitors the comet's surface, attempting to find Philae's final resting spot.

Any manoeuvre to bring Rosetta to the comet is risky, but a low flyby could provide scientists with an opportunity to obtain imagery with a resolution of a few inches (10 cm) per pixel.

'It is the earliest we could carry it out without impacting the vitally important bound orbits that are currently being flown,' said Matt Taylor, the Rosetta project scientist from the European Space Research and Technology Center, Noordwijk, the Netherlands.

Closing in: This artist's impression of Rosetta and 67P show previous orbits that edge in closer to the comet's surface. Up until now, Rosetta's closet view of the comet has been six miles (10 km)

Bounce back: The blurry image captures the rapid motion in which Philae was launched back out into space. The probe was launched to a height of 0.62 miles (1km) and then to a much lower height of 65ft (20 metres)

'As the comet becomes more and more active, it will not be possible to get so close to the comet. So this opportunity is very unique.'

The imagery is expected to provide information on the comet's porosity and albedo – or how much it reflects sunlight.

The flyby will also allow the study of the processes by which cometary dust is accelerated by the cometary gas emission.

'Rosetta is providing us with a grandstand seat of the comet throughout the next year. This flyby will put us track side - it's going to be that close,' said Dr Taylor.

Last week, scientists revealed the dramatic moment that Rosetta's Philae comet lander bounced back into space has been captured in a remarkable image.

Philae successfully landed on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, but not before a failure to launch its harpoons and a thruster caused it to bounce twice before settling.

The blurry image captures the rapid motion in which Philae was bounced back. 

The probe was launched to a height of 0.62 miles (1km) and then to a much lower height of 65ft (20 metres) before coming to rest.

True colours: The Max Planck Institute revealed the true colour of 67P (left). On the right is an image taken taken by a Rosetta instrument dubbed Osiris

Reflection: This image, named 'Perihelion Cliff', shows a wall next to the robot, with reflections from Philae

Esa scientists also revealed a reprocessed Civa image taken by Philae at the American Geophysical Union's Fall Meeting in San Francisco.

The image, named 'Perihelion Cliff', depicts one of the walls looming over the robot, with reflections from Philae shown by glare marks.

Civa took sharper images of the 67P's terrain, but these were taken after the probe had fallen into a dark ditch, unable to get the sunlight it needed to recharge its batteries. 

Another image shows a reconstruction a model of Philae's final landing location.

Rosetta engineers claim the plucky probe could come back to life as soon as March next year, as comet 67P gets closer to the sun.

Animation shows how the Rosetta spacecraft takes images

Toppled: In this graphic, Civa images have been used to construct a model of the final landing location. Scientists described the ground as being more like a 'trampoline' than rock, owing to its soft and powdery texture, which may have caused the unsteady landing