MCKENNA-LAWLOR , Susan

On 10 July 2010 the Rosetta spacecraft flew-by asteroid Lutetia. At that time all the mass spectrometers in the payload of the Philae Lander capable of gas analysis were in operation. Among these, the COSAC (Cometary Sampling and Composition) experiment is a gas-chromatograph mass spectrometer which was switched on twice during the fly-by, once...

Comets harbor the most pristine material in our solar system in the form of ice, dust, silicates, and refractory organic material with some interstellar heritage. The evolved gas analyzer Cometary Sampling and Composition (COSAC) experiment aboard Rosetta's Philae lander was designed for in situ analysis of organic molecules on comet...