Dr Paul Jerram, Head of Engineering Sensors at e2v's Space Imaging Division, interviewed at Waterhouse Lane, Chelmsford, regarding the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission and his team's involvement and the future hunt for Goldilocks porridge. e2v has made a very significant contribution to this mission, with image sensors in five instruments on both Rosetta and the lander, Philae. These image sensors are already delivering fantastic high resolution images of the Russian-named comet. Rosetta was launched in 2004 and in August this year, achieved a milestone of becoming the first spacecraft to orbit a comet’s nucleus. Since then, Rosetta has been orbiting comet 67p and mapping its nucleus in great detail and in September, identified the potential landing site for its lander (Philae). The Philae has landed the comet today at 16:02 GMT. e2v sensors involved in Rosetta mission: On Rosetta: OSIRIS – the high resolution imaging camera. It has a narrow field and wide field camera. NAVCAM – the navigation camera. VIRTIS (Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) – which maps and studies the nature of the solids and the temperature on the surface of the comet. It also identifies gases, characterises the physical conditions of the comet and has helped to identify the best landing site (e2v’s devices are in the visible element of this instrument). # Rosette or Rosetta was the name used by the French at the time of Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt and thus became eponymous of the Rosetta Stone (French: Pierre de Rosette) which was found by French soldiers at the nearby Fort Julien in 1799. On Philae: ÇIVA (Comet nucleus Infrared and Visible Analyzer) – six identical micro-cameras take panoramic pictures of the surface of the comet. A spectrometer studies the composition, texture and albedo (reflectivity) of samples collected from the surface. ROLIS (Rosetta Lander Imaging System) – a CCD camera used to obtain high-resolution images during the descent of the lander and take stereo panoramic images of areas sampled by other instruments. # Philae /ˈfaɪliː/ (Greek: Φιλαί Philai; Ancient Egyptian: Pilak, P'aaleq; Arabic: فيله‎ [fiːlɐ]) is an island in Lake Nasser, Egypt. It was formerly an island in the First Cataract of the Nile River and the previous site of an Ancient Egyptian temple complex in southern Egypt.

• published: 13 Nov 2014
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