The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft is on the brink of making contact with the comet 67P/CG, 10 years after being launched from French Guiana. Today, it will execute a "close approach trajectory insertion," thereafter placing it within the gravitational pull of the comet. The entire process will last about six minutes and 26 seconds, and will mark the first leg of a series of three-legged triangular paths about the comet, each of which will take about three to four days. Due to its distance from Earth, mission controllers from the agency will need to wait at least thirty minutes before they can tell if the procedure has succeeded. If all goes as planned, the Rosetta will drop the Philae lander with the help of an explosive...
via The Verge - All Posts http://ift.tt/1kG8JoR
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