Rosetta-Alice spectrograph to begin close up ultraviolet studies of comet surface and atmosphere

After a 10-year journey that began in March 2004, the European Space Agency's Rosetta comet orbiter has its sights set on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The orbiter's payload, including the Alice ultraviolet (UV) spectrograph developed by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), is poised to begin the first orbital and closest-ever observations of a comet.