EARTH Magazine: Rosetta Off to Decipher a Comet’s Secrets

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Megan Sever (msever@earthmagazine.org)

6/24/2014

Alexandria, Va. — “Hello World.” Upon hearing that brief message, scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA) and followers around the world sent up a collective cheer. Rosetta — the ESA spacecraft currently on a 10-year mission to orbit and land on a comet — awoke in January after a three-year hibernation, and was ready to get to work.

The Rosetta spacecraft launched on March 2, 2004, to study Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In August, Rosetta will enter the comet’s orbit. By November, scientists will plant a lander on the comet, in the hope of learning more about the conditions at the dawn of our solar system.

Read all about Rosetta’s mission and what scientists hope to learn about our origins in the July issue of EARTH Magazine:  http://bit.ly/TpKFcP.

For more stories about the science of our planet, check out EARTH Magazine online or subscribe at www.earthmagazine.org. The July issue, now available on the digital newsstand, features stories on preserving a petrified forest in Peru, creationism coming to the county fair, and Triassic fossils showing live birth, plus much, much more.  

 ###

Keep up to date with the latest happenings in Earth, energy and environment news with EARTH magazine online at: http://www.earthmagazine.org/. Published by the American Geosciences Institute, EARTH is your source for the science behind the headlines.

The American Geosciences Institute is a nonprofit federation of 49 geoscientific and professional associations that represents more than 250,000 geologists, geophysicists and other earth scientists. Founded in 1948, AGI provides information services to geoscientists, serves as a voice of shared interests in the profession, plays a major role in strengthening geoscience education, and strives to increase public awareness of the vital role the geosciences play in society's use of resources, resiliency to natural hazards, and interaction with the environment.