The Russian Polyus spacecraft strapped to a Energia rocket. The Polyus was a prototype orbital weapons platform designed to destroy satellites with a megawatt carbon-dioxide laser. It was launched on May 15, 1987 and would ultimately fail to reach orbit.⠀ ⠀ #RocketRundown #space #Energia #laser #spaceforce

The tail of Comet 67p, captured by the @rosettamission spacecraft 1.9 km above its surface! Less than a month before the end of the Rosetta mission, the space probe was just 1.9 km above the surface of Chury as it flew through a dust cloud from the comet. This resulted in a direct impact of dust in the ion source of the mass spectrometer ROSINA-DFMS (Rosetta Orbiter Sensor for Ion and Neutral Analysis-Double Focusing Mass Spectrometer), led by the University of Bern. Kathrin Altwegg, lead researcher on ROSINA and co-author of the new study published today in the prestigious journal Nature Astronomy, says: “This dust almost destroyed our instrument and confused Rosetta’s position control.” IMAGE: Comet 67P. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/ID #rosetta #comet #exploration