Rosetta's Path Around Comet 67P Looks Like a Bad Etch A Sketch

On March 2, 2004, the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe left terra firma bound for comet 67P. A little over a decade later, Rosetta arrived at 67P and became not only the first spacecraft to orbit a comet, but also the first to deploy a lander to the comet's surface.

It's been a wild ride, but Philae is now dead (RIP) and next month Rosetta will crash itself into the comet to join the lander in its cosmic crypt.

But before the mission ends on September 30, ESA gave the Rosetta mission something of an animated retrospective, tracing the probe's 6.4 billion kilometer journey from launch up through August 9. Watching the probe's path toward and around the comet is mesmerizing, and at times it almost seems as though the craft has a mind of its own as it performs these acrobatic maneuvers.

In the video you can see Rosetta's initial orbit beginning on August 6, 2014 when it began mapping the comet to determine a fitting landing site for Philae. Philae was deployed on November 12, at which point Rosetta began its scientific mission in earnest. In February and March of 2015, Rosetta made several close flybys—one that came so close to the comet's surface that the craft entered a safe mode, and retreated to a safe distance where it remained until it was safe to approach again.

In August, the comet swung as close to the Sun as it would ever get (an event known as perihelion), and the increased comet activity leading up to perihelion required Rosetta to stay at least 100 kilometers away for a few weeks. The furthest Rosetta ever traveled from the comet was some 1500 kilometers.

According to the ESA, the trajectory information in the video is based on real data from Rosetta—the only inaccurate data is the rotation of the comet.