Rosetta’s last days
The Rosetta team has released a detailed description of what will be happening in the last two weeks of the spacecraft’s mission, leading up to its landing on the comet’s surface on September 30.
Their description of the difficulty of planning maneuvers based on the complex asymmetrical gravitational field of the two-lobed comet nucleus is especially interesting.
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The Rosetta team has released a detailed description of what will be happening in the last two weeks of the spacecraft’s mission, leading up to its landing on the comet’s surface on September 30.
Their description of the difficulty of planning maneuvers based on the complex asymmetrical gravitational field of the two-lobed comet nucleus is especially interesting.
I must unfortunately ask you for your financial support because I do not depend on ads and rely entirely on the generosity of readers to keep Behind the Black running. You can either make a one time donation for whatever amount you wish, or you sign up for a monthly subscription ranging from $2 to $15 through Paypal or $3 to $50 through Patreon.
Your support will allow me to continue covering science and culture as I have for the past twenty years, independent and free from any outside influence.
Your support is even more essential to me because I not only keep this site free from advertisements, I do not use the corrupt social media companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook to promote my work. I depend wholly on the direct support of my readers.
You can provide that support to Behind The Black with a contribution via Patreon or PayPal. To use Patreon, go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation. For PayPal click one of the following buttons:
If Patreon or Paypal don't work for you, you can support Behind The Black directly by sending your donation by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman, to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
Or you can donate by using Zelle through your bank. You will need to give my name and email address (found at the bottom of the "About" page). The best part of this electronic option is that no fees will be deducted! What you donate will be what I receive.
I don’t think I need to say it a third, or is this the fourth time, as even I am getting tired of it… But I will, one more time. One change in their “Passivation” command would enable Rosetta to operate on the surface, should it survive landing, just one. Simply amend the software patch to disable the transmitter after a computer restart. Then should the probe be destroyed, no harm, no foul. Should it survive though, then for at least as long as the batteries last, observations from the surface could be conducted.
If they wanted to go further and ensure a safe landing, that wouldn’t be hard either. Dwindling flight team or no, it’s just one or two more thruster firings, the first just before touch down, and the second, if bouncing is a perceived threat, after touch down to ensure the craft doesn’t rise again. Heck, I know if I were Sylvain or one of the flight engineers, I would be willing to stay a few extra hours to write the commands rather then go off on holiday. But that’s not the case here. The team is already being broken up by the bureaucrats who have already written Rosetta off. Exploration be damned, we have our stunt for the end of the mission, let’s not waste any more money.
I know I sound rather salty and in truth I feel rather salty about this waste of an opportunity to use a still functioning spacecraft for some useful gain.