Rosetta space mission
Sălăjan Alexandru
Clasa XI-C
Colegiul Tehinc de Comunicaţii
Augustin Maior
Rosetta
(spacecraft)
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Rosetta is a robotic space probe built and launched by
the European Space Agency to perform a detailed study
of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P) with both an
orbiter, and lander module Philae. Rosetta was launched
on 2 March 2004 on an Ariane 5 rocket and reached the
comet on 6 August 2014 becoming the first spacecraft to
orbit a comet. It is part of the ESA Horizon 2000
cornerstone missions. The spacecraft consists of two main
elements: the Rosetta space probe orbiter, which features
12 instruments, and thePhilae robotic lander, with an
additional nine instruments.
TheRosetta mission will orbit 67P for 17 months and is
designed to complete the most detailed study of a comet
ever attempted. The mission is controlled from
the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC),
inDarmstadt, Germany.
Comet Churyumov–
Gerasimenko
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Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko officially
designated 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko and sometimes
shortened to Chury, 67P/C–G, or simply 67P, is a comet with
a currentorbital period of 6.45 years , a rotation period of
approximately 12.4 hours and traveling 135,000 km
(84,000 mi) per hour. It will next come to perihelion on 13
August 2015 . Like all comets, it is named after its
discoverers, Soviet astronomers Klim Ivanovych
Churyumov and Svetlana Ivanovna Gerasimenko, who first
observed it on photographic plates in 1969. Churyumov–
Gerasimenko is the destination of the European Space
Agency's Rosetta mission, launched on 2 March 2004.
Rosettarendezvoused with Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 6
August 2014 and entered orbit on 10 September 2014.
Rosetta’s lander, Philae, landed on its surface on 12
November 2014, becoming the first spacecraft to land on
a comet nucleus.
Start of mission
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Launch date: 2 March 2004, 07:17 UTC
2 March – ESA's Rosetta mission was successfully launched
at 07:17 UTC, from Kourou, French Guiana. The upper
stage and payload were successfully injected into an
eccentric coast orbit of 200 km × 4,000 km (120 mi
× 2,490 mi). At 09:14 UTC the upper stage engine fired to
bring the spacecraft to escape velocity, leaving Earth and
entering heliocentric orbit. Rosetta was released 18
minutes later. The ESOC in Darmstadt, Germany,
established contact with the probe shortly after that.
10 May – The first and most important deep space
manoeuvre was successfully executed to adjust the course
of the space craft, with a reported inaccuracy of 0.05%.
Satellite launch
Credit images ESA
Touchdown on the comet
► Philae
detached from Rosetta on 12
November 2014 at 08:35 UTC, with an
estimated landing seven hours later.
Confirmation of landing on Comet
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko reached Earth
on 12 November 2014 at 16:03 UTC.
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Credit images ESA
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Future milestones
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November 2014 to December 2015 –
Rosetta escorts the comet around the Sun.
December 2015 – End of mission.