This image may not be used to state or imply ESA endorsement of any company or product Loss of Rosetta cometary probe signal. Screenshot of the image
This image may not be used to state or imply ESA endorsement of any company or product Loss of Rosetta cometary probe signal. Screenshot of the image displayed at ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) mission control centre showing the static received just after Rosetta's radio signal disappeared at 13:19 CEST (11:19 UTC) on 30 September 2016. The loss of contact marked the end of operations. The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft was launched in March 2004. It entered orbit around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 6 August 2014 and over the next 25 months it acquired 100,000 images and instrument readings, as well as launching a lander (Philae). With the probe's solar power fading at a distance of 573 million kilometres from the Sun, the decision was taken to end the mission with a controlled impact with the cometary surface.
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Photo credit: © EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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