The European Space Agency's comet chaser Rosetta is once again in the news. Earlier this year, on the 25th of February, the robotic spacecraft made its closest approach to Mars, to slow down its speed. The Rosetta mission is intended to target three separate asteroids.
Launched on the 2nd of March, 2004 aboard Ariane 5, Rosetta made its first Earth fly-by in March of 2005 en-route to Mars, which it encountered February.
However Rosetta headed straight back home after visiting Mars, and is expected to make its closest approach to Earth on the 13th of November. Using the momentum gained from its second Earth swing-by, it will proceed out in to the outer Solar System and visit the asteroid 2867 Steins.
Part of the main belt between Mars and Jupiter, 2867 Steins was discovered in 1969 by N. S. Chernykh and named for Karlis Steins, a Latvian astronomer. With a diameter of approximately 4.6 km, 2867 Steins is likely to receive Rosetta's visit on the 5th of September, 2008.
In a mission that involves a lot of two-and-fro-ing, Rosetta will then head back to earth for its third and final Earth fly-by. This time, its speed acquired from the gravity sling around our blue planet will set it on course to visit 21 Lutetia.
21 Lutetia is another main belt asteroid, about a hundred kilometers in diameter, and is likely to encounter Rosetta on July the 10th, 2010. At this point, Rosetta will revert to deep space hibernation, as it travels out to visit its primary target, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is the reason that Rosetta is carrying Philae, the lander which will make contact with the comet in November of 2014. Rosetta will have first mapped the comet, on a slow approach, so as to determine a suitable landing spot for its sister explorer.
Philae's mission is to determine the chemical compounds present in the comet, characterize the nucleus and study the activities of a comet over a period of time.
The second Earth swing-by which is fast approaching will occur at 21:57 CET, on the 13 November 2007, and bring Rosetta's speed up to 45 000 km/h (about 12.5 km/s) relative to Earth. At this time, Rosetta will be 5301km above the Pacific Ocean, south-west of Chile, at 63 degrees 46' South and 74 degress 35' West.
The entire operation is being controlled from the ESA's Spacecraft Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, and will continue too until the expected end of the mission at the end of 2015. However the team behind it believe that Rosetta will follow the comet for some time after the completion of the mission, as long as she holds up.
Joshua Hill, a Geek’s-Geek from Melbourne, Australia, Josh is an aspiring author with dreams of publishing his epic fantasy, currently in the works, sometime in the next 5 years. A techie, nerd, sci-fi nut and bookworm.
