Holy Comet Batman! Rosetta - one of the most incredible comet missions yet. The European Space Agency's robotic spacecraft has been chasing the dusty comet 67P around the solar system for 10 years in a design for landing a probe on its surface. How's that for some bodacious science experiment? On Wed (Aug 6, 2014) Rosetta will rendezvous with 67P and begin a close-up photo shoot and a personal physical exam. Measurements are needed in preparation for Rosetta to eject its probe Philae, scheduled to land this fall on the comet's surface. STEM teachers - have your students follow Rosetta's mission throughout the fall. A fantastic opportunity to help students understand the excitement, and potential for success and/or failure, of "big science". A mission jam packed with engineering, remote sensing, robotic controls, all coordinated to examine an object that may date back to the earliest days of our Solar System,
Earth science for teaching