Comet – Page 3 – Spaceflight Now

Rosetta camera captures Philae’s descent to the comet

November 13, 2014 Spaceflight Now

Rosetta’s OSIRIS camera witnessed Philae’s descent to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Top ten Rosetta images from 10km

November 11, 2014 Spaceflight Now

On the eve of Philae’s landing, the European Space Agency has released its top ten images of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko taken by Rosetta’s navigation camera from its lowest orbit just 10 kilometres from the centre of the nucleus.

Comet’s brush with Mars more dramatic than expected

November 7, 2014 William Harwood

Comet Siding Spring’s close flyby of Mars last month dumped several tons of primordial dust into the thin martian atmosphere, likely creating a brief but spectacular meteor shower with thousands of shooting stars had any astronauts been there to see it, scientists said.

Mars spacecraft safe after fortuitous comet encounter

October 20, 2014 Stephen Clark

A fleet of robotic spacecraft orbiting Mars got a front row seat to space history and lived to tell about it, giving scientists their first close-up look at a comet fresh from a cloud of primordial mini-worlds at the outer reaches of the solar system.

Comet’s flyby of Mars a boon for scientists

October 19, 2014 William Harwood

The red planet’s brush with Comet Siding Spring was a close encounter of the best kind for science, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to study a pristine remnant of the solar system’s birth 4.6 billion years ago as it makes its first and possibly last visit to the warmth of the inner solar system.

Fleet of Mars probes set to observe comet flyby

October 9, 2014 William Harwood

An international fleet of five Mars orbiters and two rovers will have ringside seats when a mountain-size comet streaks by on Oct. 19, passing within a scant 87,000 miles of the red planet at a blistering 126,000 mph.