November 12, 2014, Philae will land (or not) on the Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet ! Also known as "67p" or its nickname "TCHOURI".
The Rosetta mission started 10 years ago by the ESA, European Spatial Agency, went through more than 6 billions kilometers, and Rosetta engineers will hope to make space history by landing the Philae robot on the surface of this icy comet for the first time, the comet being about 2.4 miles (4km) wide. You can follow the latest news on the ESA website http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta , this a real challenge, a world first !
Thanks to many photos took by the Rosetta cameras while in orbit around the comet, a 3D model of the comet has been reconstructed based on images from the OSIRIS and NAVCAM cameras.
Because roughly 30% of the ‘dark side’ of 67P/C-G has not been resolved and analysed fully yet, the shape model is very incomplete over those regions. As a result, some of the derived parameters for the comet are only best estimates at present.
3DS Fablab worked hard to create 3D Printed parts from the 3D model generated from photos, and for this special event, hosted by "La cité des Sciences" in Paris, in which 3D prints will be offer to VIPs invited to see this event live. Using a Form1 from FormLabs, the result is impressive, and gives engineers and people a better view of the surface of this comet, better understand its form. See the video here of the project hereunder :
Dassault Systèmes is proud to be partner of this event, you can 3D print the comet by downloading the 3D file provided by the ESA here in OBJ format:
The event will be at La Cité des sciences et de l'industrie, in multiplex with ESA center in Darmstadt and the space cité in Toulouse, people will be able the see the first landscapes from the comet land and get the first scientific datas transmitted by Philae. This moment should be of great emotion ! The program is here Wednesday 12 of November 2014 at 15h30 (exact hour can change, you understand why :-)) in the meantime you can watch this fantastic movie a short film directed by Oscar-winning Tomek Bagiński and starring Aidan Gillen—Littlefinger of Game of Thrones—about the importance of the Rosetta mission.
All images courtesy from ESA. Credits: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team