The European Space Agency ( ESA ) has released the final position from Rosetta , as itpurposefully crashedinto the surface of a comet in September 2016 .
The Rosetta space vehicle launch in 2004 , enter orbit around Comet 67P / Churyumov - Gerasimenko in 2014 and spending two years there . In the process , it took stunning images of the comet , study what it was made of , and even deploy the Philae lander onto its surface in November 2014 .
Now ESA has resign the final high - resolution images from the spacecraft ’s OSIRIS camera ( Optical , Spectroscopic and Infrared Remote Imaging System ) . This span the period from late July 2016 to the oddment of the missionary post on September 30 , 2016 , including the striking consequence the spacecraft bear on the surface .
“ Having all the image finally archived to be shared with the reality is a rattling touch sensation , ” Holger Sierks , principal researcher of the OSIRIS photographic camera , said in astatement .
The last simulacrum have been put together into a slap-up video recording , below , which also includes the net opinion of the Philae lander , which bounce twice on the control surface and was lost under a cliff untiljust week beforethe missionary work ended .
In the final two month of the mission , Rosetta was wreak nigher and closer to the comet , allowing for some awe-inspiring images andscience . In the last few hours , the spacecraft scan an ancient pit and institutionalize back images of its final resting shoes .
As a bite of a incentive , the team were capable toreconstruct a final imageof its resting post , call for when Rosetta was just 20 measure ( 65 feet ) above the control surface . And the mission is n’t even over yet , as data and mental image from the mission are still being used to study the comet , and line up out what use they played in the formation of the Solar System .
“ The last hardening of images supplements the copious hoarded wealth chest of data that the scientific biotic community are already delving into for really understand this comet from all perspective , ” Matt Taylor , Rosetta project scientist , pronounce in the statement .
“ There are certainly passel of mysteries , and plenty still to break . ”
you’re able to view all the images from the Rosetta look-alike , and focus through its data , in theArchive Image Browserand thePlanetary Science Archive .
