Rosetta’s twin

Thank you for rating! You have already rated this page, you can only rate it once! Your rating has been changed, thanks for rating! - Title Rosetta engineering model Released 10/12/2013 3:05 pm Copyright ESA/J.Mai Description - ESA's Rosetta is en route to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, where it will make the most detailed study of a comet ever attempted. It will follow the comet on its journey through the inner Solar System, measuring the increase in activity as the icy surface is warmed up by the Sun. It will deposit a lander, Philae, on to the surface to study the composition and structure of the comet nucleus. It will also drill more than 20 cm into the surface to collect samples for inspection by the lander's laboratory. The spacecraft has been in deep-space hibernation for over 30 months and is set to wake up on 20 January 2014. This image shows the Rosetta Engineering Qualification Model in a cleanroom at ESOC, ESA's European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany. It is a faithful replica of the actual spacecraft, and is being used to test and validate procedures and software prior to upload to the real Rosetta.