Here's mud in your eye: Rosetta's 'star trackers' muddled by comet dust

Spacecraft forced to keep its distance from host comet thanks to streams of dust interfering with the navigation system

The Rosetta spacecraft is being forced to keep its distance from its host comet because dust streaming from its surface is muddling its onboard navigation systems, mission scientists have reported.

Matt Taylor, Rosetta project scientist, said that future close flybys may no longer be possible, because the spacecraft appears to become disoriented when it flies low over the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet.