After ten years of seeking out its intended match in open space, the Rosetta spacecraft has completed the first phase of its mission in finding its target and falling into its 300 kilometer orbit.
Set into space by the international European Space Agency (ESA), at approximately 2:30 am this morning, Aug. 6, Rosetta fired its final thrusters in its approach of the comet known simply as "67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko".
"Mission operations and science teams of ESA and scientists from multiple countries [have been] following progress closely" spokespersons from ESA said. "Orbit entry [took] place on August 6, and [was] triggered by a small but crucial thruster firing, lasting just six minutes and twenty-six seconds."
Now that Rosetta has begun its orbit, it will engage in a series of three-legged triangular paths around the comet, documenting its structure, composition, core and surface. It is estimated that each leg, approximately 100 kilometers long, will take three to four days to complete.
"We have been approaching 67P for such a long time, it is almost surreal to now actually be there" Holger Sierks of the Max Planck Institute in Germany said in a press release this morning. "Today, we are opening a new chapter of the Rosetta mission. And already we know that it will revolutionize cometary science."
As first order of business, Rosetta transmitted images of 67P and its core images back to Earth, a revel-worthy sight for the original scientists who began planning the mission in the 1970's. But the work has only just begun.
"Arriving at the comet is really only just the beginning of an even bigger adventure, with greater challenges still to come as we learn how to operate in this unchartered environment, start to orbit and, eventually, land" ESA's Rosetta spacecraft operations manager, Sylvain Lodiot said.
