The challenging detection, by ESA's #Rosetta mission, of several isotopes of the noble gas xenon at Comet #67P has established the first quantitative link between comets and the atmosphere of Earth. The blend of #xenon found at the comet closely resembles U-xenon, the primordial mixture that scientists believe was brought to Earth during the early stages of Solar System formation. These measurements suggest that comets contributed about one fifth the amount of xenon in Earth's ancient atmosphere. http://sci.esa.int/rosetta/59177-rosetta-finds-comet-connection-to-earth-s-atmosphere/ #ESA #science #technology #Rosetta #Philae #SolarSystem #comets #closeencounter #flyby #67P #Churyumov-Gerasimenko #lander #Steins #Lutetia #asteroid #OSIRIS #ALICE #VIRTIS #MIRO #ROSINA #COSIMA #MIDAS #CONSERT #GIADA #RPC #RSI #APXS #COSAC #MODULUS #Ptolemy #SD2 #CIVA #ROLIS #SESAME #MUPUS #ROMAP #CometNucleusSoundingExperimentbyRadiowaveTransmission #CometarySecondaryIonMassAnalyser #GrainImpactAnalyserandDustAccumulator #Micro-ImagingDustAnalysisSystem #MicrowaveInstrumentfortheRosettaOrbiter #OpticalSpectroscopicandInfraredRemoteImagingSystem #RosettaOrbiterSpectrometerforIonandNeutralAnalysis #RosettaPlasmaConsortium #RadioScienceInvestigation #VisibleandInfraredThermalImagingSpectrometer #AlphaProtonX-raySpectrometer #CometInfraredandVisibleAnalyser #COmetNucleusSoundingExperimentbyRadio-waveTransmission #COmetarySAmplingandCompositionexperiment #MUlti-PUrposeSensors #MethodsOfDeterminingandUnderstandingLightelementsfromUnequivocalStableisotopecompositions #RosettaLanderImagingSystem #RosettaLanderMagnetometerandPlasmaMonitor #samplingdrillinganddistribution #SurfaceElectricalSeismicandAcousticMonitoringExperiments