Rosetta finds comet connection to Earth's atmosphere

The challenging detection, by ESA's Rosetta mission, of several isotopes of the noble gas xenon at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has established the first quantitative link between comets and the atmosphere of Earth.

Rosettas operational mission ended in September 2016, but for the scientists and instrument teams the mission is far from over. Scientists have only scratched the surface analysing the amount of data produced by the mission. As this information is scrutinised, new discoveries are made, including a surprise final extra image taken by the OSIRIS camera during the spacecrafts controlled descent onto the comet.

We present a summary of the campaign of remote observations that supported the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission. Telescopes across the globe (and in space) followed comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from before Rosetta's arrival until nearly the end of mission in September 2016.

The finding shows that oxygen can be generated in space without the need for life, and could influence how researchers search for signs of life on exoplanets.

A 100 foot-wide (30 meter), 28-million-pound (12.8-million-kilogram) boulder, was found to have moved 460 feet (140 meters) on comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko in the lead up to perihelion in August 2015, when the comets activity was at its highest...

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Rosetta | International Mission to a Comet, In Search of ...