@nasa : After a decade-long journey chasing its target, ESA’s Rosetta has today become the first spacecraft to rendezvous with a comet, opening a new chapter in Solar System exploration. This image, taken by Rosetta’s Onboard Scientific Imaging System (OSIRIS) on August 6, 2014, shows close up detail of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, focusing on a smooth region on the ‘base’ of the ‘body’ section of the comet. The image clearly shows a range of features, including boulders, craters and steep cliffs. The image was taken from a distance of 80 miles (130 kilometers) and the image resolution is 8 feet (2.4 meters) per pixel. The three U.S. instruments aboard the spacecraft are the Microwave Instrument for Rosetta Orbiter (MIRO), an ultraviolet spectrometer called Alice, and the Ion and Electron Sensor (IES) are part of a suite of 11 science instruments aboard the Rosetta orbiter. U.S. scientists are partnering on several non-U.S. instruments and are involved in seven of the mission's 21 instrument collaborations. NASA's Deep Space Network is supporting ESA's Ground Station Network for spacecraft tracking and navigation. Launched in March 2004, Rosetta was reactivated in January 2014 after a record 957 days in hibernation. Composed of an orbiter and lander, Rosetta's objectives upon arrival at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August are to study the celestial object up close in unprecedented detail, prepare for landing a probe on the comet's nucleus in November, and track its changes as it sweeps past the sun. Comets are time capsules containing primitive material left over from the epoch when the sun and its planets formed. Rosetta's lander will obtain the first images taken from a comet's surface and will provide the first analysis of a comet's composition by drilling into the surface. Rosetta also will be the first spacecraft to witness at close proximity how a comet changes as it is subjected to the increasing intensity of the sun's radiation. Observations will help scientists learn more about the origin and evolution of our solar system and the role comets may have played in seeding Earth with water, and perhaps even life. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS
โพสต์เมื่อ 6 ส.ค 2557 | 20:50 น.
แอพแรกที่คุณเลือก
Instagram ดารา @nasa
นาซา
Explore the universe and discover our home planet with the official NASA Instagram account

มี 14,194 คนชอบรูปนี้






รูปภาพอินสตาแกรมอื่นๆ ของ NASA

Instagram is a registered trademark of Instagram, inc.