The Rosetta mission is over, but not the science.

[babylonlurker]

So cool that we can get so close to something like that!!

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/rosetta.png

Nice one !!!!

[Jan]

So cool that we can get so close to something like that!!

http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/rosetta.png

[babylonlurker]

Today I followed Rosetta as it was deliberately crashed into the comet it has been orbiting for the last 2 years (approximately).

The mission with Rosetta and the Philae lander has been very interesting to follow, and has already provided us with a lot of new knowledge about the early solar system.

I also attended a presentation by Matt Taylor at Fedcon this year, outlining the mission, and the science coming out of it. Always interesting to hear from the people directly involved. Also, last year the Rosetta team was at Fedcon, and I had the opportunity to chat space travel etc. with a few of the team members one evening in the bar.

The crash was clearly detectable, following the signal spectrum from the probe on a screen, until it - simply - disappeared from the screen.

The mission per se is over, but sifting through all the data gained (as Matt Taylor said) will take decades. The patient process of science can be slow, but also gain us valuable knowledge.