“Rosetta: The Remarkable Story of Europe’s Comet Explorer” by Peter Bond

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Rating: 4/5 Stars

A fantastic book on the Rosetta space probe and its mission to explore comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P) from its conception, the launch, the actual mission itself and the discoveries of the comet that the mission has revealed, so far.

The book starts with a history of what we know about comets from ancient times to now, based on observations from Earth. It then covers some early space mission to explore various comets like Comet Halley. The concept and planning of the Rosetta mission is then covered, followed by the initial attempt to launch it to explore comet 46P/Wirtanen that was aborted, after the failure of a rocket that would have been used to launch Rosetta.

After an examination of the various options, 67P was chosen as the new target for Rosetta and the mission was on its way. But it didn’t get there directly: Rosetta had to flyby the Earth and Mars several times to get enough velocity for the rendezvous, and it was tasked to examine other targets (like asteroids) during the journey.

Then, Rosetta arrived at 67P and, following an examination of the comet, the Philae lander was released. Rosetta then followed 67P as it approached and then left the vicinity of the sun. Finally, Rosetta itself was made to land on 67P, ending the mission. But it’s not the end of the book. Based on the data from the mission, a summary of what is known about how 67P came about and how it is now is presented in fascinating detail.

If you are looking for a book that covers in detail the management and planning of the Rosetta mission, technical detail on the instruments on the probe and the running of the mission itself (including dealing with the various problems encountered during the mission), this is the book to read.

Book read from 2022/06/14 to 2022/06/24