67P: Structure and Activity of the Comet Nucleus

Science Journal has started to publish the scientific data collected and analysed by the Rosetta mission. One of the first articles’ co-author is a member of BME staff.

The article titled ’On the nucleus structure and activity of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko’ was published in the prestigious scientific journal on 23 January; one of the co-authors was Gábor Kovács, researcher of the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Budapest University of  Technology and Economics.

The researcher of the Department of Mechatronics, Optics and Information Engineering has been working for the Max Planck Institute since last April on projects related to imaging of the cameras of the spacecraft. The spacecraft reached the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet last August, processing of the images sent to the Earth by the spacecraft is performed by the software developed by Gábor Kovács. “The main systems of the spacecraft are running smoothly, they are forwarding high-resolution images and other data continually,” said the researcher of the Max Planck Institute and BME.

The faculty has been in close cooperation with the research institute in Göttingen; members of the Faculty Department have taken part in two large-scale projects recently: development of Rosetta and Dawn spacecrafts; the latter is examining Vesta and Ceres dwarf planets.