COBS News archive

Welcome to a comet!
November 13, 2014
Rosetta’s lander Philae is safely on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, as these first two CIVA images confirm.

Philae Lands on Its Comet — Three Times!
November 13, 2014
After free-falling toward Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for seven hours, ESA's Philae lander bounced on the surface twice before finally coming to rest.

Touchdown! Rosetta's Philae probe lands on Comet
November 13, 2014
ESA’s Rosetta mission has soft-landed its Philae probe on a comet, the first time in history that such an extraordinary feat has been achieved.

Here comes the lander!
November 12, 2014
Shortly before Philae’s touchdown on Comet 67P/C-G, the lander’s down-looking descent camera, ROLIS, imaged the surface of the comet.

Farewell, Philae!
November 12, 2014
Just like Philae took a parting shot of the mothership shortly after separation, also Rosetta captured some amazing shots of the lander as it began its seven-hour descent to the surface of the comet.

Farewell, Rosetta!
November 12, 2014
Shortly after parting from Rosetta, the lander Philae took a shot of its mothership.

Rosetta and Philae separation confirmed
November 12, 2014
The Philae lander has separated from the Rosetta orbiter, and is now on its way to becoming the first spacecraft to touch down on a comet.

Rosetta and Philae Go for separation
November 12, 2014
Following a night of critical Go/NoGo decisions, Rosetta and Philae are cleared for separation, despite a problem onboard the lander.

Go/NoGo 3 – Philae ready
November 12, 2014
The Philae Control Team at the Lander Control Centre (DLR/Cologne) have completed a final check and verification of the lander’s health.

Go/NoGo 2 – Commands ready; Rosetta ready
November 12, 2014
The second Go/NoGo, comprising two steps, confirms that

Go/NoGo 1 – Rosetta is on track
November 12, 2014
Following the final full orbit determination before separation, the Flight Dynamics Team at ESOC confirm that Rosetta and Philae are on the correct orbit and that Rosetta can achieve the delivery trajectory, i.e., it can be at the correct point in space at the correct time so as to deliver the lander onto the surface as planned.

VIRTIS detects water and carbon dioxide in comet’s coma
November 11, 2014
In previous blog posts we’ve heard how VIRTIS is able to map the temperature of the comet’s surface. Now, as Dominique Bockelee-Morvan (CNRS) and Stephane Erard (Observatoire de Paris) report, the VIRTIS science team has started to map gas in the coma.

Astronomers preparing for first-ever comet landing attempt
November 11, 2014
Astronomers are preparing for the first ever landing by a spacecraft on an icy comet tomorrow. The Rosetta spacecraft was launched in 2004, and has spent a decade manoeuvring to rendezvous with the comet.

Rosetta's Singing Comet
November 11, 2014
A set of instruments on the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft has picked up a mysterious "song" from Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. On Wednesday, Nov. 12, Rosetta will attempt the first-ever soft landing on a comet when it dispatches its Philae lander to the surface of comet 67P.

Mars Spacecraft Reveal Comet Flyby Effects on Martian Atmosphere
November 08, 2014
Two NASA and one European spacecraft that obtained the first up-close observations of a comet flyby of Mars on Oct. 19, have gathered new information about the basic properties of the comet's nucleus and directly detected the effects on the Martian atmosphere.

Rosetta Races Toward Comet Touchdown
November 07, 2014
After sailing through space for more than 10 years, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft is now less than a week shy of landing a robotic probe on a comet.

Rosetta lined up for lander delivery
November 03, 2014
Rosetta conducted an important manoeuvre this morning that shifted it onto the orbit it will maintain until 12 November, when Philae is set for dispatch to the surface of comet 67P/C-G.

Hubble Sees Comet Next to Mars
November 03, 2014
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has produced a unique composite image of comet Siding Spring as it made its never-before-seen close passage of a comet by Mars.

Rosetta's Comet Scrambling Its Jets
October 27, 2014
This image of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, taken by Rosetta's Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System (OSIRIS) on Sept. 20, from a distance of 4.5 miles (7.2 kilometers), shows jets of dust and gas streaming into space from the neck of the comet's nucleus.

Mars Orbiter's Spectrometer Shows Oort Comet's Coma
October 27, 2014
The Compact Imaging Spectrometer for Mars (CRISM) observed comet C/2013 A1 Siding Spring as the comet sped close to Mars on Oct. 19. CRISM recorded imaging data in 107 different wavelengths, showing the inner part of the cloud of dust, called the coma, surrounding the comet's nucleus.