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cIclops

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Registered: 2005-06-16

Posts: 3,230

Re: Rosetta - ESA comet orbiter and lander

From ESA Rosetta Mission (PDF) - 21 Nov 2007

Rosetta Milestones:

First asteroid flyby:  2867 Steins - Sep 2008

3rd Earth gravity assist: - Nov 2009

Second asteroid flyby: 21 Lutetia: Jul 2010

Comet Rendezvous maneuver: - May 2014

Lander delivery: - Nov 2014

Summary of Steins fly-by

Duration: 8 Aug – 3 Oct. 2008
Closest Approach: 9 Sep 2008, 18:30 UT
Relative velocity: 8.62 km/s
Heliocentric distance: 2.14 AU
Geocentric distance: 2.41 AU
Phase angle at approach: 38.52o
Targeted minimum distance: 800 km

•Continuous observations of the asteroid
•Fly-by on the Sun side of the asteroid in the plane defined by the relative velocity and Sun direction
•Fly-by will go through phase angle zero.

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cIclops

Member

Registered: 2005-06-16

Posts: 3,230

Re: Rosetta - ESA comet orbiter and lander

Asteroid Steins observed by Rosetta’s OSIRIS camera

First observations of Rosetta’s flyby target 2867-Steins - 20 Mar 2007

Asteroid 2867-Steins will be visited again by Rosetta on 5 September 2008 from a distance of just over 1700 kilometres. This encounter will take place at a relatively low speed of about 9 kilometres per second during Rosetta's first excursion into the asteroid belt. On 10 July 2010 Rosetta will pay its second visit to asteroid 21-Lutetia, passing within about 3000 kilometres of it, at a speed of about 15 kilometres per second.

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Excelsior

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From: Excelsior, USA

Registered: 2014-02-22

Posts: 120

Re: Rosetta - ESA comet orbiter and lander

Touchdown! Rosetta's Philae probe lands on comet

ESA’s Rosetta – and her companion spacecraft – Philae – parted ways on Wednesday, ahead of a historic landing on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Philae conducted the journey towards the landing site named Agilkia, signalling back a successful landing that was the major milestone of a 10 year journey to rendezvous with the comet.
...
The events began overnight with several Go/No Go decisions for the landing attempt. Despite a few “hiccups”, the procedures finally resulted in the separation of Philae from Rosetta.

Confirmation of this – and all of the major events – took around 30 minutes to reach Earth, by which time Philae was making transitions in the post delivery phase.

Radio contact – following the expected Loss Of Signal post-sep – occurred around 10:30 GMT, ahead of the first telemetry data from the spacecraft around Noon.

There was then an anxious wait as Philae continues towards the comet.

Confirmation of the historic landing arrived back on Earth around 16:03 GMT. The actual landing took place at 15:35 GMT.

There was a short wait while telemetry confirmed the lander had fired its harpoons and had not bounced off the surface, a concern after the cold gas thruster system was classed as down ahead of the landing. Cheers confirmed all was well.

Now on the surface, Philae will transmit data from the surface about the comet’s composition, with the focus on elemental, isotopic, molecular and mineralogical composition of the cometary material, along with the the characterization of physical properties of the surface and subsurface material, the large-scale structure and the magnetic and plasma environment of the nucleus.

The detailed surface measurements that Philae makes at its landing site will complement and calibrate the extensive remote observations made by the orbiter covering the whole comet.

Well done!

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The Former Commodore

GW Johnson

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From: McGregor, Texas USA

Registered: 2011-12-04

Posts: 5,801

Website

Re: Rosetta - ESA comet orbiter and lander

According to CBS TV News tonight (Wed 11-12-14),  "they" think the cold gas thrusters and the harpoons "failed" (no details),  and that at least one ESA official is saying they "landed twice",  meaning it bounced and touched down a second time by gravity. 

The implication is that only gravity is holding it in place.  It's down,  but that means digging or drilling is problematical at best.  One of the reports indicated there was some kind of screw hold-down mechanism in the lander's feet.  Hope that works. 

GW

update 11-13-14:  now they're saying it bounced twice.  The first one was a big,  two-hour bounce,  the second a small 6-minute bounce.  No one yet knows exactly where it actually ended up,  but it is in shadow,  mostly cutting off solar power.

Last edited by GW Johnson (2014-11-13 18:06:04)

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GW Johnson
McGregor,  Texas

"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew,  especially one dead from a bad management decision"

GW Johnson

Member

From: McGregor, Texas USA

Registered: 2011-12-04

Posts: 5,801

Website

Re: Rosetta - ESA comet orbiter and lander

Today's internet news says Philae has "awakened".  That's very good news.  Maybe they can get some surface data,  and even figure out exactly where it ended up. 

Same news says JAXA is considering using its Hayabusa technology and experience to attempt a sample return from one of Mars's moons.  Still very early in the process,  and certainly not a sure thing. 

GW

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GW Johnson
McGregor,  Texas

"There is nothing as expensive as a dead crew,  especially one dead from a bad management decision"

Mars_B4_Moon

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Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: Rosetta - ESA comet orbiter and lander

http://www.engadget.com/2015/12/18/esa- … et-images/

Mars_B4_Moon

Member

Registered: 2006-03-23

Posts: 9,776

Re: Rosetta - ESA comet orbiter and lander

'Spot the difference' to help reveal Rosetta image secrets

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Spot … s_999.html