Goodbye Rosetta

Today, at 13:38 Moscow time, the European Space Agency's Rosetta research apparatus was broken on the surface of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. A similar decision was made by scientists after the "Rosetta" and its descent module "Filas" of the mission set for them.

The main motivation for the destruction of the apparatus is the current uselessness of the “Rosetta” in the comet's orbit, as well as the possible generation of radio interference, which may interfere with other studies or distort their results. As a bonus, scientists hope to extract the latest sensor data from the surface of the komenty before the Rosette will be destroyed.
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Save the device when landing is impossible. "Rosetta" was designed for flight, and not for the descent to the surface of the comet and simply can not stand the impact.

The path of the "Rosetta" and the Fila descent module began more than 12 years ago, on March 2, 2004. Then the European Space Agency launched the device into space and sent it to a meeting with the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Several times the launch was postponed until the final date was approved. Also, scientists were worried that in ten years the device could fail and simply not “wake up” during the next communication session. On its way, "Rosetta" passed through Mars, the asteroids Steins and Lutetia, and only after it reached the goal of its journey. In sum, Rosetta performed four gravitational maneuvers to reach the necessary trajectory, flying twice past the Earth and Mars.


Black is the trajectory of the device. As can be seen, before reaching the tangential trajectory to the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Rosetta made four “circles” in the solar system in the region of Mars and the Earth

While "Rosetta" was looping between the planets in a cosmic void, nobody spoke about it. The public learned about the flight to the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko only in 2013-2014, when the European Space Agency, with the support of the media, launched an information campaign to highlight the mission.

In January 2014, “Rosetta” was tried to “wake up” and, to the relief of scientists, after almost three years of “sleep”, the device responded.

Before entering orbit, television channels and publications around the world prepared dozens of materials about Rosette and a group of scientists involved in the study of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The convergence of the “Rosetta” itself and its entry into orbit of the cosmic body took place in August 2014.

The device successfully entered the tangential trajectory, going “behind” the comet, and then went into its orbit. It was another success.


One of the photo of the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, obtained from the "Rosetta"

Already in November 2014, Rosetta launched the Fila module onto the comet's surface. Unfortunately, there were no problems: the module could not grasp the surface of a celestial body, several times slipped from the surface and landed in the shade. This did not prevent Fila from transmitting unique data, but its full potential was not used. A more detailed history of the descent module was set out after the end of his work in this publication .

Another unpleasant incident was connected with the landing of Fila, which, however, occurred on Earth. When the device was lowered to the surface, one of the leaders of the Rosette mission, Matt Taylor, gave an interview on camera. Matt was dressed in a shirt with a picture of girls in various poses and weapons.

After the interview appeared on the network, The Verge resource launched the persecution of a scientist who provided mankind with the opportunity to see unique comet photos and get the most valuable scientific data. The main reason for this was precisely the shirt - according to the journalists of The Verge, it offended women. The article was published under the heading "Your shirt is sexist and ostracizing," which translates to "I don't care if you put a spaceship on a comet, your shirt is sexist."


Interview frame in the very shirt

Feminists around the world began to exercise in eloquence and insult an imposing scientist for his clothes. With all this, Taylor is an exemplary family man (he has a wife and two children), and according to the stories of loved ones, he is a typical person who is passionate about and in love with his work. It got to the point that the ESA had to organize a press conference where Matt officially apologized for his inappropriate appearance. The fact that he had to apologize for his shirt when he conducted a unique mission brought the scientist to tears.

The feminists ’anti-Taylor mass media campaign and social networks to support Taylor and ridicule the“ offended ”by his appearance, and the fact that the shirt was made and presented to the scientist by a woman, his girlfriend, slightly cooled the heat.

Today's descent of the Rosetta to the surface of the comet was broadcast live, including the official twitter, which was brought on behalf of the apparatus:








The last photo of Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, made by Rosette

Other photos of the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko can be found in the gallery on the NASA website .

Rosetta’s mission is officially completed.