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Comet dust brought back to Earth: paving the way for Rosetta
12 January 2006
| This image of Comet Wild 2 was one of 72 taken with the navigation camera on NASA's Stardust spacecraft during its encounter with the comet between 31 December 2003 and 2 January 2004. The Wild 2 nucleus measures five kilometres wide.
Credits: NASA | |  |  | |
| | | | | Artist's impression of NASA's Stardust spacecraft
Credits: NASA | | | | |
| | | | | | An artist’s impression of Rosetta approaching the nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Rosetta’s 11-year expedition began in March 2004, with an Ariane 5 launch from Kourou in French Guiana. Using three Earth-gravity assists (2004, 2007, 2009) and one at Mars (2007), the spacecraft was propelled towards the outer Solar System. It has encountered two asteroids, (2867)Steins in 2008 and (21)Lutetia in 2010, and is now cruising to its final destination.
Rosetta will reach the comet in 2014, and will be the first mission ever to orbit a comet’s nucleus and to deliver a lander, called Philae, on its surface.
Credits: ESA, image by AOES Medialab | | | | |
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| | ESA's comet chaser More about... Rosetta factsheetRelated articles Evidence for more dust than ice in cometsLife of a cometTempel 1: Biography of a cometRosetta monitors Deep ImpactXMM-Newton to observe Deep ImpactHubble sees outburst from Deep Impact cometESA observes Deep Impact from EarthDust and gas from Comet 9P/Tempel 1 seen by ESA OGSTempel 1 is weak X-ray source, XMM-Newton confirmsRelated links NASA Stardust
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