Rosetta: science

Rosetta is a science mission and it is using 21 onboard instruments (11 on the orbiter, 10 on the lander) to explore two key scientific questions: did water on Earth come from comets and did comets help kick start life on Earth?

Since Rosetta came out of hibernation in January, we now know comet 67P/Churyumov Gerasimenko’s mass (around 10 billion tonnes), shape (rubber duck) and rotation (every 12 hours and 24 minutes). Its cameras have shown gas and dust streaming away from the comet, locating areas of activity and imaging them for the first time. The orbiter has also captured dust grains and detected water and gases in the comet’s atmosphere or coma.

The film is an overview of the science so far and what lies ahead when the Philae lander descends and lands on the comet’s surface. The A-roll contains a soundbite in English from Rosetta Mission Manager, Fred Jansen, at ESA’s European and Space Technology Research Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands beside a 1000:1 scale model of the comet.

The B-roll contains several additional soundbites from Fred Jansen in English and Dutch as well as animations of the comet and the Philae lander.