The giant boom finished its Earth mapping work earlier this morning. See our Mission Status Center for the latest news. Rosetta's rock show One week after NASA's NEAR satellite achieved a notable 'first' when it entered orbit around a near-Earth asteroid named 433 Eros, scientists are looking ahead to future missions including the European Rosetta space probe. Researchers had predicted that the oceans would boil off in about five billion years when the Sun starts to burn up its fuel and grow bigger, enveloping Mercury and roasting Venus and the Earth. Spaceflight Now .
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