Submitted via IRC for Bytram
It's time for Europe's comet probe, Rosetta, to die. At 4:48pm ET (20:48 UTC) 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 (12:20 UTC).
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 should touch down at a walking pace, then be commanded to shut down.
Signal Lost as expected at 12:18 UTC
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday September 30 2016, @07:22PM
One thing that occurs to me is the weight of the radioactive stuff.
Wouldn't they have needed to beef up the structure of the payload vehicles (more expensive)?
(Wouldn't the RTG itself also have added cost?)
Wouldn't the boost vehicle also have needed to be more powerful (more expensive)?
...and, as janrinok indicates, would an RTG have needed a bunch of extra permits/approvals?
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