Rosetta

Spacecraft nº:

ESA spacecraft nº: 54

Launch data: Designation  28169 / 04006A Launch date  02 Mar 2004 - 07:17:44 UTC Launch site  Kourou, ELA3 Launch vehicle  Ariane-5G+ (V158) Mission  Comet exploration Operator   Heliocentric orbit Perihelion / Aphelion   Incl. to ecliptic   ° Period   min The Philae lander is attached to the Rosetta sonde.

The Rosetta spacecraft with Philae added, is illustrated in this artist′s concept. Credit: EADS Astrium

Spacecraft data:

Prime contractor Astrium/Friedrichshafen Customer   Platform   Mass at launch  3160 kg Dry Mass   kg Basic shape   Dimension   Solar array   Stabilization   DC power   Design lifetime   >10 years

Rosetta before launch

Technicians work on the lander during pre-flight activities. Credit: EADS Space

An artist′s concept shows the Rosetta orbiter and its lander. Credit: EADS Astrium

Description:

• Rosetta is a spacecraft intended to rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and deploy a small lander called Philae on the nucleus of the comet. Mass of Rosetta is 3065 kg according to Arienspace, 3011 kg according to the ESA web site. It is not clear whether these masses include or exclude the 100 kg lander. Spacecraft carries approximately 1670 kg of propellant.
• Rosetta's target comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, is in a 1.29 x 5.72 AU x 7.1 deg orbit. To reach this very different orbit, Rosetta will make an Earth flyby in Mar 2005, a Mars flyby in Feb 2007, two more Earth flybys in Nov 2007 and Nov 2009, and will reach the comet in 2014. On the way, Rosetta will make flybys of minor planets: Steins (on 2008 Sep 5) and Lutetia (on 2010 Jul 10).
• The following is the schedule for the mission:

  First Earth flyby: 04 March 2005 Mars flyby: 25 February 2007 Second Earth flyby: 13 November 2007 Steins flyby: 05 September 2008 Third Earth flyby: 13 November 2009 Lutetia flyby: 10 July 2010 Begin hibernation: 08 June 2011 End hibernation: 20 January 2014 Rendezvous manoeuvre with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: May 2014?? Arrival at comet ??: 06 August 2014 Deployment of Philae onto the Comet nucleus: 11 November 2014 End of mission: December 2015

• Rosetta carries the OSIRIS camera, ultraviolet, visible, infrared and microwave spectrographs, neutral and ion mass spectrometers and gas chromatograph, dust detectors and analysers, comet plasma analysers, and the CONSERT radar sounder to study the interior of the nucleus.

Mission details:

• The Ariane 5 rocket fired up at 0717:44 GMT (2:17:44 a.m. EST), exactly when the booster could place the probe on the first leg of its ten-year course to comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
• Delaying the launch from 2003 to 2004 caused managers to change targets for the probe, which required extensive studies of Churyumov-Gerasimenko to see if it was suitable to approach with a $1 billion spacecraft and safe to land upon with a tiny robot explorer.
• First launch to have placed an Ariane upper stage onto Earth escape trajectory; on previous Ariane launches of deep space payloads, launch has been to the standard geosynchronous transfer orbit, and then the spacecraft itself has performed the burn to an escape trajectory. First Ariane 5G+, with an improved EPS upper stage. The EPC core stage entered a 45 x 3849 km x 5.7 deg orbit 9 min after launch. It completed one orbit and reentered at perigee over the eastern Pacific. The EPS second stage ignited on the descending leg of the orbit at 0914UTC and burned for 17 minutes. During the burn the instantaneous orbital perigee increased so that the payload missed the atmosphere easily with a closest approach of 225 km; altitude increased to engine cutoff at about 1100 km, at which point Rosetta and the EPS stage were in a hyperbolic Earth escape orbit with a perigee of 392 km. The EPS stage separated from Rosetta at 0932 UTC. Rosetta left the Earth′s gravitational sphere of influence early on March 5, and is now in an 0.885 x 1.094 AU orbit around the Sun inclined at 0.4 deg to the ecliptic and will reach perihelion around May 25, 2004.
  

  Rosetta will take a circuitous route through the solar system and will arrive back in the vicinity of Earth next March for its first crucial gravity assist fly-by. The probe will reach Mars in Febr 2007, followed by two additional close approaches of Earth to tweak its course toward Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

  
  
• The European comet probe Rosetta made a 250 km flyby of Mars at 01:57 UTC on Feb 25, 2007. The probe will arrive at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014; it was launched in Mar 2004 and made an Earth flyby in Mar 2005. As Rosetta leaves the Mars gravitational sphere of influence it enters a 0.78 x 1.59 AU solar orbit inclined 1.9 deg to the ecliptic, setting it up for another Earth flyby in November 2007.
• Rosetta probe flew past Earth at 2057 UTC on Nov 13, 2007; 5301 km above 63 46S 74 35W. The close flyby, with an eccentricity of 3.6, changes Rosetta's ecliptic solar orbit from 0.78 x 1.59 AU x 1.9 deg to 0.91 x 2.26 AU x 7.7 deg, setting it on course for a flyby of minor planet (2867) Steins in Sep 2008.
• The Rosetta probe passed 800 km from minor planet (2867) Steins at 1838 UTC on Sep 5, 2008.
• On Jan 1, 2010 Rosetta is in a 0.98 x 5.09 AU x 4.4 deg solar orbit moving outward from the Earth towards its Jul 10 flyby of Lutetia.
• The Rosetta comet probe, on its way to Churyumov-Gerasimenko, flew past asteroid (21) Lutetia at a distance of 3162 km, at 1545 UTC on Jul 10, 2010. Lutetia is the largest asteroid yet visited by a spacecraft, with a size of roughly 100 km. Lutetia is in a 2.04 x 2.83 AU x 3.1 deg orbit around the Sun; Rosetta is in a 0.98 x 5.09 AU x 4.4 deg orbit.
• This is the last mission of the Rosetta before being shut down in hibernation only to wake up in 2014 with a new fascinating study of the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
• The three-legged Philae will touch down on the surface in November 2014, firing a harpoon to keep the tiny craft anchored on the comet so it doesn't float away in the weak gravitational field. It will snap high-resolution pictures and acquire data about the comet's organic crust and molecules for transmission up to the orbiter for later relay to Earth.
  
• The 85 kg Philae lander was ejected from the Rosetta probe 22 km from Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at 0835 UTC Nov 12, 2014.
• Rosetta flight during oct 2014 at a distance of 10 km above the comet.

External links:

• Rosetta/Philae Information (Credit: Eoportal)
  

Astrophilately covers:

Launch cancel Kourou.

Headquarter cancel Paris.