Eleven EAS members travelled to Lancaster to hear Prof Monica Grady speak on the Rosetta mission. It was an entertaining presentation giving some insight into the difficulties, complexities and timescales of such a mission. We were told why the orbiter and lander were called Rosetta and Philae – it is linked to the famous Rosetta Stone in the British Museum and how this led to the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphics. The hope was that this mission would ‘decipher’ some of the secrets of the early Solar System. The instruments, built with late 1990’s technology, were delivered for integration onto the spacecraft in early 2001 and subsequent launch in 2004. The spacecraft flew by several asteroids before hiberbnating for 4 years prior to the encounter with Comet  67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P)… it did wake on command to much relief and well, the rest we know… The science analysis will go on for several more years.

At the end, there was a lively Q&A with several EAS members asking questions.

 Overall, an excellent evening.