Rosetta to sleep through loneliest leg of comet mission
Friday, June 3, 2011 - 06:30
in Astronomy & Space
On 8 June, mission controllers will have the first opportunity to switch ESA's Rosetta comet-hunter into deep-space hibernation for 31 months. During this loneliest leg of its decade-long mission, Rosetta will loop ever closer toward comet 67-P, soaring to almost 1000 million km from Earth.