November 2014. After a 10-year voyage, the Rosetta space probe will have reached its goal: the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. At 450 million kilometres from Earth a crucial and thrilling stage in this European Space Agency (ESA) mission will then unfold, the first to attempt this double challenge: to place a probe in orbit around the nucleus of a comet – a large, irregular icy ball ejecting gas and dust – and to put the Philae lander on its surface. Months of work, of development, of adjustments, of joys and disappointments before the high point in November: the landing.
Following the key stages and momentum of this unique space adventure, the film recounts and explains why comets justify such a daring mission. Comets still contain the primitive materials that gave birth to the planets. Rich in water and in organic molecules, they may also hold the keys to the origins of the Earth’s oceans and to life on our planet. The Rosetta mission is poised to reveal essential new data on comets and on our origins.
This film ends with the landing of Philae on the comet, but another film follow the entire mission : Rosetta, Memories of a comet.
Awards
Festival Parisciences 2015 : High School Student Prize (Inserm) and Audience Prize (Science&Vie TV)
Science Film Festival Sf2 2015 (Vienna, Austria) : Best european science film
Raw Science Film Festival 2015 (Playa Vista, California, USA) : Second Prize Raw Science Award
Science film Festival Szolnok (Hungary) 2015 : Certificate of Recognition of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
Fiche technique
Director : Jean-Christophe Ribot
Authors : Jean-Christophe Ribot et Cécile Dumas
Editing : Guillaume Paqueville
Animation & graphic design : Naji El Mir
Production : Look at Sciences – 2015
Duration : 52 minutes
Coproduction : Arte France
Participation : RMC Découvertes ; CNC
Broadcasting : Arte (2015); RMC Découvertes
Distribution : Terranoa