Dr Stephen Lowry of the University’s Centre for Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences will be helping to provide expert commentary as the Rosetta probe crashes into a comet today (30 September).
Dr Lowry, who is a member of the science team for the OSIRIS optical camera instrument on board the Rosetta spacecraft, will be helping the journal Nature report on the event via its social network platform.
The European Space Agency (ESA) spacecraft Rosetta will land on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko after more than a decade in space.
In 2014, after a ten-year journey through deep space, Rosetta became the first craft ever to orbit a comet.
Two years later, the orbiter is losing solar power as it speeds away from the Sun, and ESA scientists have opted to end the mission in style, with a controlled crash into the comet’s surface.
The actual landing will take place ‘within 20 minutes’ of 11:40 BST, with confirmation on Earth received 40 minutes later, at around 12:20 BST. To follow Dr Lowry’s expert comments, see Nature.
The Centre for Astrophysics and Planetary Sciences is part of Kent’s School of Physical Sciences.
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