Rosetta

The Remarkable Story of Europe's Comet Explorer

English language

Published June 13, 2020 by Springer International Publishing AG.

ISBN:
978-3-030-60719-7
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4 stars (1 review)

In 2014, Rosetta became the first mission to orbit a comet and to deploy a lander onto its surface. This is the story of ESA's pioneering comet explorer, following the mission from its initial inception to its historic touchdown.

Read along as the Rosetta orbiter and its lander, Philae, evolve over the years, overcoming early mission hurdles before embarking on their one-way, decade-long voyage to a comet. See how the saga then culminates with Rosetta and Philae at last unveiling their icy target and achieving an unprecedented touchdown on its surface.

Award-winning space writer Peter Bond takes us behind the scenes of this historic endeavor, sharing insights from the international team of scientists and engineers who made the mission possible, describing the remarkable technology that they created, and delving into the treasure trove of scientific discoveries that followed.

Recounting in vivid detail the inner workings of Rosetta, this book is …

1 edition

A fantastic book on the Rosetta space probe.

4 stars

A fantastic book on the Rosetta space probe and its mission to explore comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P) from its conception, the launch, the actual mission itself and the discoveries of the comet that the mission has revealed, so far.

The book starts with a history of what we know about comets from ancient times to now, based on observations from Earth. It then covers some early space mission to explore various comets like Comet Halley. The concept and planning of the Rosetta mission is then covered, followed by the initial attempt to launch it to explore comet 46P/Wirtanen that was aborted, after the failure of a rocket that would have been used to launch Rosetta.

After an examination of the various options, 67P was chosen as the new target for Rosetta and the mission was on its way. But it didn't get there directly: Rosetta had to flyby the Earth and …