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Rosetta Closing In On Earth Again For Second Gravity Boost
Paris, France (ESA) Nov 09, 2007 ESA's comet chaser, Rosetta, is on its way to its second close encounter with Earth on 13 November. The spacecraft's operators are leaving no stones unturned to make sure Earth's gravity gives it the exact boost it needs en route to its destination. This month's Earth swing-by is Rosetta's third major step on its 10-year journey to 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The trajectory correction manoeuvre successfully performed last month prepared ESA's Comet Chaser for the upcoming encounter. The spacecraft is now right on track to gain the right amount of energy from Earth's gravity and save fuel later on. Closest approach will take place on 13 November 2007 at 21:57 CET, at which time Rosetta will speed past at 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 minutes South and 74 degrees 35 minutes West.
Why swing by Earth? The first Earth swing-by took place on 4 March 2005. On 25 February 2007 Rosetta made its closest approach to Mars, to use its gravity. The swing-by this month will be followed by the third and last swing-by, using Earth's gravity, on 13 November 2009. While the gravity-assist manoeuvre at Mars was needed to slow the spacecraft down and head back towards the inner solar system, the second Earth swing by will help Rosetta gain enough energy to reach the outer Solar System through the asteroid belt and observe asteroid Steins, one of its scientific targets. Rosetta will then head back to Earth for the last planned swing-by in November 2009. The increased energy from this Earth swing-by will help Rosetta cross the asteroid belt for a second time, observe Lutetia (its second target asteroid) and finally rendezvous with comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The rendezvous will take place about 4 astronomical units or 600 million km from the Sun, in 2014.
Intense activity coming up Despite this, a few experiments both on the orbiter and the Philae lander will be activated for calibration, scientific measurements and imaging. The observations are scheduled during and around the time of closest approach, from 7 Nov, 01:00 CET, to 20 Nov, 15:00 CET. Rosetta will first point to Earth to make observations of the atmosphere and the magnetosphere, including a search for shooting stars from space. It will image urban regions in Asia, Africa and Europe and then point to the Moon and obtain spectra of the illuminated Moon. Flying away after closest approach, Rosetta will image the Earth-Moon system from a distance. Rosetta will be controlled from ESA's Spacecraft Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany For more detail about Rosetta's spacecraft and scientific operations, please read the Rosetta second Earth swing-by Q and A. For the swing-by, the ESA Web portal is hosting a Rosetta swing-by blog providing frequent updates, news and information direct from the Rosetta Dedicated Control Room at ESOC. Related Links Rosetta ESA Spacecraft Operations Space Tourism, Space Transport and Space Exploration News
Grand Theft Pluto
Huntsville AL (SPX) Feb 27, 2007When New Horizons, NASA's Pluto-bound spacecraft, swings by Jupiter on Feb. 28th, it will pick up a few souvenirs along the way - photos, data, and an extra 9000 miles per hour courtesy of the largest planet in our solar system. |
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