Mainz scientists participating in both the Rosetta mission
and the Borexino experiment
The journal Physics World has named the first landing of a
research probe on a comet as its 2014 Breakthrough of the Year. The Physics
World editorial team decided to single out the historic achievement of the
scientists working on the Rosetta mission for its significance and fundamental
importance to space science. A team headed by Dr. Göstar Klingelhöfer at
Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (JGU) developed the alpha particle x-ray
spectrometer on board Philae, the lander of the ESA mission to the comet
Churyumov-Gerasimenko. On November 12, 2014 the lander touched down on the
comet after a ten-year journey aboard the Rosetta spacecraft. Physics World is
the journal produced for members of the UK-based Institute of Physics (IOP),
one of the largest associations of physicists in the world.