Camera scientist presents final images taken before Rosetta’s crash landing

Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft will close out a historic 4.9-billion-mile journey Friday with a slow-speed crash into the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the tiny world it has studied for the last two years, capturing some of the mission’s best science data to help unravel the inner workings of the comet. Confirmation of the crash landing should arrive on Earth around 1218 BST.

ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft observed unusual jets of gas and dust spewing from comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko every morning as the sun came up. A new study shows those jets formed as a result of the comet’s strange topography.

Rosetta flight director Andrea Accomazzo tells us in this video interview how the Rosetta spacecraft will make its final plunge towards the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.