In a world first, those people interested will be able to follow the Rosetta space mission live on Twitter as its lander, Philae, attempts to land on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko this evening.
Rosetta is the first mission in history to rendezvous with a comet, escort it as it orbits the Sun, and deploy a lander to its surface. The robotic space probe, built and launched by ESA, the European Space Agency, already performs a detailed study of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
The spacecraft arrived at the comet on 6 August 2014 following a 10-year journey through the solar system. Since then the Rosetta spacecraft orbits the comet and gathers data to characterise the environment and the comet nucleus. Later today (12 November) Rosetta’s lander Philae will attempt to land on the surface. Philae carries a suite of instruments for imaging and sampling the comet nucleus.
The mission is controlled from ESA’s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), in Darmstadt, Germany. It is an ESA mission with contributions from its Member States and NASA. Rosetta’s Philae lander is provided by a consortium led by DLR and MPS (Germany), CNES (France) and ASI (Italy). Scientists claim that this mission is more complex than landing on the moon.
How to follow the news
* Hashtags
* Official accounts
- @ESA_Rosetta (lead account)
- @Philae2014 (Rosetta’s comet lander Philae)
- @ESA (ESA’s main corporate channel)
- @ESAscience (ESA’s Science and Robotic Exploration channel)
- @ESAOperations (ESA Spaceflight Operations channel)
- https://twitter.com/ESA_de/lists/esa-rosetta-on-twitter (official list of around 50 ESA channels)
How to engage with the mission:
* Tweet or ask questions on Twitter about the mission; or
* Send your “good luck tweets” and follow @ESA_Rosetta & @Philae2014 for updates.
Why Twitter?
Twitter offers exclusive content about the mission:
* Highlight: dialogue between @ESA_Rosetta & @Philae2014;
* @ESA_Rosetta live tweeting the event (1st person) – sharing photos, infographics, vines, videos, gifs;
* 1st photo of lander descent = Twitter exclusive;
* 1st photo of landing/comet surface = Twitter exclusive;
* Vines of mission;
* Vine statements of ESA chief scientists and discoverer of Rosetta; and
* Twitter Q/A with Rosetta Project Scientist Matt Taylor.
When is it happening?
Official ESA time schedule for 12 November 2014 (main events only).
Live From ESA ESOC Mission Control Room
* 08:30-09:15 GMT / 12:30-13:15 UAE time: Lander separation scheduled at 09:03 GMT/13:03 UAE time – descent will take seven hours due to very low gravity of the comet
* 11:00-12:15 GMT / 15:00-16:15 UAE time: Science updates and first (‘farewell’) pictures showing lander descent (expected around 12:00 GMT / 16:00 UAE time)
* 14:00-15:30 GMT/ 18:00-19:30 UAE time: Focus on Rosetta science, Orbiter and Lander already gather data during descent, last preparations for landing
* 15:45-16:15 GMT /19:45-20:15 UAE time: Landing expected at 16:00 GMT / 20:00 UAE time (+/- 15 mn)
* 17:00 GMT / 21:00 UAE time earliest: Presentation of first panoramic (CIVA) image from comet.
Livestream
* ESA TV will be live streaming throughout the mission at http://new.livestream.com/ESA/Cometlanding
Additional information
Essential information and channels on ESA’s Rosetta mission:
* http://rosetta.esa.int – Rosetta landing page, this is where the main live stream will be embedded;
* http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/ – Rosetta mission blog with in-depth information; and
* http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta – classic Web special.
