ESA - Rosetta - Smile! Rosetta's self-portrait

About Rosetta

Rosetta at a glance Europe's comet chaser Why 'Rosetta'?

About the spacecraft

The Rosetta orbiter Orbiter: Instruments The Rosetta lander Lander: Instruments

About the journey

The long trek Debris of the Solar System: Asteroids Asteroid (2867) Steins: a portrait Life and survival in deep space Long-distance communication The Rosetta ground segment

About the arrival

Comets - an introduction Comet 67P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko Comet rendezvous Giotto - ESA's first comet mission

Meet the team

Project Manager Project Scientist

Multimedia

VideoTalk 3D Flash 'model'Rosetta images Rosetta videos Rosetta Animations Rosetta wallpaper Life of a comet

Services

Frequently asked questions Comments

News

Smile! Rosetta's self-portrait

Rosetta's self-portrait in space

18 June 2004
ESA's Rosetta comet-chaser has photographed itself in space at a distance of 35 million kilometres from Earth. The CIVA imaging camera system on the Philae lander returned this image as part of its testing in May 2004.

The back of a solar panel is seen here, with contours on the panel are illuminated by sunlight and surfaces of the spacecraft main body are recognisable at lower right.

The CIVA imaging system consists of six identical micro-cameras which will take panoramic pictures of the comet's surface, when Rosetta arrives at its target in ten years' time. A spectrometer will also study the composition, texture and albedo (reflectivity) of samples collected from the surface.

Send this page to a friend

ESA's comet chaser

More about...

Rosetta factsheet XMM-Newton factsheet Hubble factsheet NASA Deep Impact ESO Deep Impact news

Life of a comet Tempel 1: Biography of a comet Rosetta monitors Deep Impact XMM-Newton to observe Deep Impact Hubble sees outburst from Deep Impact comet ESA observes Deep Impact from Earth Dust and gas from Comet 9P/Tempel 1 seen by ESA OGS Tempel 1 is weak X-ray source, XMM-Newton confirms