California Institute of Technology
Engineering & Science
05.16.12

Random Walk

Lutetia and Saturn

Saturn hovers behind the asteroid Lutetia. The Rosetta spacecraft took this snapshot from 36,000 kilometers away with its OSIRIS narrow-angle camera. Operated by the European Space Agency, Rosetta will arrive at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 and send a lander to explore the comet’s surface. Researchers at JPL help with the American contribution to the mission, which includes three instruments: an ultraviolet imaging spectrometer called ALICE, a microwave instrument called MIRO, and an ion and electron sensor (IES).