On 8 January, at 06:59 CET, Bepi, Mio and MTM got as close as 295 km to Mercury’s surface. This sixth flyby is the last time the #BepiColombo trio greet the planet together 👉 https://t.co/jheNFY2pQE
Here's an image taken 5.5 hours before closest approach, when #bepicolombo was 44950 km from Mercury's southern hemisphere. The planet is at the bottom of the picture, below two of the spacecraft's booms.
❄☃ "We're dreaming of a white Christmas..." - on Mars?
Step into the end of the year with this picturesque ‘winter wonderland’ scene at the south pole of Mars, captured by our Mars Express.
Is it snowing where you are?
🔗https://t.co/mu4HuqfnVx
Mercury in motion... One of the #BepiColombo selfie-cameras captured Mercury today as the spacecraft rushed by the planet at almost 3 km per second. 🛰️💨
This time-lapse of unprocessed images was captured during 10:26-11:18 UTC today (11:26-12:18 CET), between 53700 and 48000 km from the planet's surface. 📸
Thank you for following our #CometLandingRelived coverage! ☄️🛰️
What are your lasting impressions of #Rosetta and #Philae’s historical encounter with a comet?
We’d love to hear your stories, and you can enjoy other fans’ reactions here: https://t.co/8MSdzbhbQZ
#CometLandingRelived 46/
“We were beginning to think that Philae would remain lost forever. It is incredible we have captured this at the final hour.” – Patrick Martin (@esa Rosetta Mission Manager, 2016)
#CometLandingRelived 43/
Part 2/2 22 months later…
After a long, pain-staking search and with only a month left of the @esa_Rosetta mission, the team makes a remarkable discovery…
“We are so happy to have finally imaged Philae, and to see it in such amazing detail!” – Cecilia Tubiana (OSIRIS camera team, @MPSGoettingen, 2016)
#CometLandingRelived 42/
“This wonderful news means that we now have the missing ‘ground-truth’ information needed to put Philae’s three days of science into proper context, now that we know where that ground actually is!” – Matt Taylor (@esa Rosetta Project Scientist, 2016)
#CometLandingRelived 44/
Welcome to our #CometLandingRelived epilogue!
Part 1/2: Seven months later…
Late one Saturday evening, an 85 second burst of data arrives from the surface of comet #67P.
#CometLandingRelived 39/
“Philae has been a tremendous challenge and for the lander teams to have achieved the science results that they have in the unexpected and difficult circumstances is something we can all be proud of.” – Patrick Martin (@esa Rosetta Mission Manager, 2016)
#CometLandingRelived 41/
These blog entries describing how #Rosetta & #Philae's mission and the #scicomm around it impacted your life long-term is the most beautiful thing I'll probably ever read 🥹 Thank you contributors, for sharing your personal stories 🥹
How were you feeling at the end of @philae2014’s mission?
Mission fans have shared their lasting impressions here: https://t.co/b1eHFapvIs
If your nerves can take it, come back tomorrow for a last surprise or two…
#CometLandingRelived 38/
Welcome to our last day of #CometLandingRelived coverage. As @DLR_en Philae Lander Manager Stephan Ulamec said: “This has been a crazy week. Keep your fingers crossed for tonight.”
Will the teams locate @philae2014? Will the lander complete its science goals before its battery runs out? Let’s find out…
#CometLandingRelived 28/
“Many of the instruments have acquired what they wanted to. ROMAP acquired the magnetic field and there will be important data on whether the material is magnetised or not. Tomorrow three more instruments will be on. It’s really tremendous. We are at the limit of what humankind can do. – Jean-Pierre Bibring (Lead Lander Scientist, @IASorsay, 2014)
The results of Philae’s first analysis were published the following year 👉
https://t.co/5dTkICOIOg #CometLandingRelived 25/
I have a faint recollection of being in the project room with all these large pieces of paper with the images on, mosaicked together on the table, the team studying them for clues of Philae's whereabouts... #CometLandingRelived
“We hit the nominal landing site less than 100 metres from the predicted point” – Stephan Ulamec (@DLR_en Philae Lander Manager, 2014)
“Flight dynamics – these guys are the heroes of this mission. This is unbelievable accuracy. We can show you where the first touchdown point was, but we have a hard time to find the lander [now]. Holger Sierks (OSIRIS Principal Investigator, @MPSGoettingen, 2014)
#CometLandingRelived 21/
“This is the first image ever acquired from a comet. We see something we built, with something nature built 4.6 billion years ago – Jean-Pierre Bibring (@IASorsay Lead Lander Scientist, 2014)
#CometLandingRelived 20/
Welcome back to our #CometLandingRelived coverage and to @philae2014’s first day on a comet. It’s been confirmed we landed three times, and the first science results are already in…
https://t.co/OL2CfSPBk0
#CometLandingRelived 19/