Rosetta to Swoop Down on Comet in February   
       
   Dec 19, 2014:  The European Space Agency's orbiting Rosetta spacecraft is   
   expected to come within four miles (six kilometers) of the surface of comet   
   67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in February of next year. The flyby will be the   
   closest the comet explorer will come during its prime mission.   
       
   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOSyNtuWhGk   
       
   This animation shows Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, with overlay boxes   
   indicating the fields of view of three cameras on the European Space Agency's   
   Rosetta spacecraft: the wide angle camera of OSIRIS, the narrow angle camera   
   of OSIRIS and the spacecraft's Navigation Camera.   
       
   "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. "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 low flyby will be an opportunity for Rosetta to obtain imagery with a   
   resolution of a few inches (tens of centimeters) per pixel. The imagery is   
   expected to provide information on the comet's porosity and albedo (its   
   reflectance).  The flyby will also allow the study of the processes by which   
   cometary dust is accelerated by the cometary gas emission.   
       
   http://www.nasa.gov/jpl/rosetta/pia19095/#.VJTAb_8Cc   
       
   From the location where it came to rest after bounces, the Philae lander of   
   the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission captured this view of a cliff on   
   the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The feature is called   
   "Perihelion Cliff." The image is from the lander's CIVA camera. Image Credit:   
   ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA "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 Taylor.   
       
   The Rosetta orbiter deployed its Philae lander to one spot on the comet's   
   surface in November. Philae obtained the first images taken from a comet's   
   surface and will provide analysis of the comet's possible primordial   
   composition.   
       
   Comets are time capsules containing primitive material left over from the   
   epoch when our sun and its planets formed. Rosetta will be the first   
   spacecraft to witness at close proximity how a comet changes as it is   
   subjected to the increasing intensity of the sun's radiation. Observations   
   will help scientists learn more about the origin and evolution of our solar   
   system and the role comets may have played in seeding Earth with water, and   
   perhaps even life.   
       
   Rosetta is a European Space Agency mission with contributions from its member   
   states and NASA. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, a   
   division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the   
   U.S. contribution of the Rosetta mission for NASA's Science Mission   
   Directorate in Washington. JPL also built the MIRO instrument and hosts its   
   principal investigator, Samuel Gulkis. The Southwest Research Institute (San   
   Antonio and Boulder) developed the Rosetta orbiter's IES and Alice   
   instruments, and hosts their principal investigators, James Burch (IES) and   
   Alan Stern (Alice).   
       
   For more information on the U.S. instruments aboard Rosetta, visit   
   http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov   
       
   More information about Rosetta is available at http://www.esa.int/rosetta   
       
   Credits:   
   Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
   --- D'Bridge 3.99   
    * Origin: NCS BBS - Houma, LoUiSiAna (1:3828/7)