Lander battery voltage falling fast
On board Philae, system voltage has fallen very close to 21.5V; below that, the battery won’t last much longer. At this time, there is insufficient sunlight to provide power.
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Our lander’s asleep
With its batteries depleted and not enough sunlight available to recharge, Philae has fallen into ‘idle mode’ for a potentially long silence. In this mode, all instruments and most systems on board are...
View ArticleReddit AMA 20 Nov 19:00CET start
Engineers from Rosetta mission control at ESOC, Germany, the Rosetta Science Operations Centre at ESAC, Spain, and the Lander Control Centre, Cologne, will take part in a reddit AMA (Ask me Anything!)...
View ArticleWhat’s up with Rosetta
First off: watch this! It’s a visualisation of Rosetta’s trajectory from the delivery of Philae to the surface of Comet 67P/C-G through to the end of 2014. Following the lander delivery on 12 November,...
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Year-end break
Rosetta and Philae’s holiday card. Click through to download full-sized version. Credit: ESA A short note from the blog team here at ESA: after an amazing but exhausting year, we’re going to take a...
View ArticleRosetta swoops in for a close encounter
ESA’s Rosetta probe is preparing to make a close encounter with its comet on 14 February, passing just 6 km from the surface. Today, Rosetta is moving into a new path ahead of a very close encounter...
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Mission control at closest approach
Rosetta is preparing to make a close encounter with its comet tomorrow, on 14 February, passing just 6 km from the surface. On 4 February, Rosetta began manoeuvring onto a series of new trajectories...
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How we heard from Philae
Saturday, 13 June 2015 22:28 CEST on board Rosetta: The orbiter’s Electrical Support System Processor Unit (ESS) starts receiving radio signals from Philae, approximately 200km beneath Rosetta on the...
View ArticlePreparing Rosetta to listen for lander
At the time of writing, the Rosetta orbiter has received no new signals from the Philae lander on the surface of Comet 67P/C-G since the last, very brief, signal receipt on the evening of 14 June. This...
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Beginning of the end
Today’s blog post features detailed information on the intense, behind-the-scenes activities during Rosetta’s final weeks, courtesy of Sylvain Lodiot, Spacecraft Operations Manager, at ESOC, and...
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Ground stations’ last week with Rosetta
As Rosetta counts down to a memorable comet landing and end of mission on 30 September, here’s a brief profile of the three ESA deep-space ground stations that are tracking the spacecraft in its final...
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Real life trumps animation
As activity for the Rosetta Flight Control Team steadily winds down toward Friday’s end of mission, we’ve been hearing a number of ‘insider tales’ from the engineers, who are already reminiscing about...
View ArticleHow Rosetta gets passivated
The post below was sent in by Rosetta Spacecraft Operations Engineer Tiago Francisco, in response to our question: how does Rosetta get shut down upon comet landing? ITU regulations require us to...
View ArticleLive from Rosetta mission control
Live Twitter Periscope visit to the Rosetta mission control team on console in the Main Control Room at ESOC, Darmstadt, Germany, for today’s #CometLanding. Hosted by Daniel Scuka, from the ESA web...
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Flight dynamics team at ESOC
Throughout the entire Rosetta mission, the Flight Dynamics team at ESOC have been some of the hardest-working, behind-the-scenes wizards ensuring navigation – and today is no exception. They also have...
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Last call from Rosetta
Going… going… gone! A sequence of screenshots showing the signal from Rosetta seen at ESA’s ESOC mission control centre via NASA’s 70m tracking station at Madrid during comet landing on 30 September...
View ArticleLoss of signal confirmation
Spacecraft Operations Manager Sylvain Lodiot confirms loss of signal (LOS) and end of Rosetta operations at 13:19 CEST, 30 September 2016, via the voice loop in the Main Control Room at ESA’s space...
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Rosetta’s deep-space ringtone
Editor’s note: Today’s post was sent in by Armelle Hubault, a Spacecraft Operations Engineer here at ESOC. Armelle worked on the Rosetta Flight Control Team until the mission ended on 30 September, and...
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