Update: And it's all over. Mission managers confirmed that the mission ended at 7:19am ET (12:19pm GMT) with the loss of Rosetta’s signal after the spacecraft impacted the comet. A great mission has just come to a conclusion.
Original post: It's time for Europe's comet probe, Rosetta, to die. At 4:48pm ET Thursday, the spacecraft fired its thruster for 208 seconds, setting Rosetta on course for a controlled descent to the surface of its comet on Friday morning at approximately 7:20am ET (12:20pm UK).
In accord with the spacecraft's descent to the surface, the European Space Agency will provide live coverage via Livestream about an hour before the landing time. The live video will feature status updates from mission controllers live from the European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany.
The spacecraft arrived at the Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, which is about 4km on its longest side, in 2014. It became the first mission to orbit around a comet, and, with its small Philae lander, the first to touch down on a comet’s surface. Now the main probe will follow Philae down to the surface.
This must happen as the comet is now speeding away from the Sun, and Rosetta's spacecraft can no longer collect enough solar energy to perform all of its functions. Engineers have already had to toggle instruments on and off, because the solar power cannot support all of them at the same time. As the comet goes deeper into the Solar System, the remaining fuel on board the spacecraft would freeze.
Before that happens, the Europeans will bring Rosetta down slowly, at a walking pace of about 90 cm/s. They hope to collect data and images all the way down to the comet's dark surface. Like Philae, which tumbled after its harpoon anchors failed to fire, Rosetta may bounce slightly upon reaching the surface. Once there, however, it will be commanded to shut down so that its main transmitter does not randomly transmit signals that could interfere with other spacecraft communicating with Earth.
Listing image by ESA
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