Rosetta
Organization:	European Space Agency
Major Contractors:	European Space Agency
Mission type:	Comet Orbiter/Lander
Launch Date:	March 2, 2004 at 07:17 UTC
Launch Vehicle:	Ariane 5
Decay:	N/A
Webpage:	ESA-Rosetta
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Conceptual drawing of the Rosetta orbiter and Philae lander

Rosetta is a European Space Agency-led unmanned space mission launched in 2004 intended to study the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It consists of two main elements: the Rosetta space probe and the Philae lander. The probe is named after the Rosetta Stone, as it is hoped the mission will help unlock the secrets of how our solar system looked before planets formed. The lander is named after the Nile island Philae where an obelisk was found that helped decipher the Rosetta Stone. Computer model of the Rosetta space probe URL: [1] Source: [2] Credit: NASA File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... The European Space Agency (ESA), established in 1975, is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 17 member states. ... Comet Hale-Bopp For other uses, see Comet (disambiguation). ... March 2 is the 61st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (62nd in leap years). ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... It has been suggested that leap second be merged into this article or section. ... Ariane 5 lifts off with the Rosetta probe on 2 March 2004. ... The Rosetta orbiter swoops over the lander soon after touchdown on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ... The Rosetta orbiter swoops over the lander soon after touchdown on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ... Philae (previously known as RoLand) is the name of the lander that accompanies the Rosetta spacecraft. ... The European Space Agency (ESA), established in 1975, is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 17 member states. ... Unmanned space missions are those using remote-controlled spacecraft. ... 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is the designation of a comet with a current orbital period of 6. ... The Rosetta Stone in the British Museum The Rosetta Stone is dark grey-pinkish granite stone (originally thought to be basalt in composition) with writing on it in two languages, Egyptian and Greek, using three scripts, Hieroglyphic, Demotic Egyptian and Greek. ... Major features of the solar system (not to scale) The solar system comprises the Sun and the retinue of celestial objects gravitationally bound to it: nine planets and their 158 currently known moons, as well as asteroids, meteoroids, planetoids, comets, and interplanetary dust. ... Philae (or Pilak or Paaleq [Egyptian: remote place or the end or the angle island]; [Arabic: Anas el Wagud]) is an island in the Nile River and the previous site of an Ancient Egyptian temple complex in southern Egypt. ... The Luxor obelisk in the Place de la Concorde in Paris An obelisk is a tall, thin, four-sided, tapering monument which ends in a pyramidal top. ...

Overview

During the 1986 apparition of the Comet Halley, a number of international space probes were sent to explore the cometary system, most prominent among them being ESA's highly successful Giotto. After the probes returned a treasure-trove of valuable scientific information it was becoming obvious that follow-ons were needed that would shed more light on the complex cometary composition and resolve the newly opened questions. 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Comet Halley, officially designated 1P/Halley, more generally known as Halleys Comet after Edmond Halley, is a comet that can be seen every 75-76 years. ... The European Space Agency (ESA), established in 1975, is an inter-governmental organisation dedicated to the exploration of space, currently with 17 member states. ... In this artists concept, Giotto points its white high-gain antenna dish towards earth with the ring of solar cells facing the sun. ...

Both NASA and ESA started cooperatively developing new probes, the NASA led effort was the Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby or CRAF mission, the follow-on Comet Nucleus Sample Return or CNSR mission was to be an ESA led effort, both missions were to share the common Mariner Mark II design, thus minimizing costs. In 1992, after NASA axed CRAF because of budgetary limitations, ESA decided on developing the spacecraft by themselves. By 1993 it was evident that the ambitious sample return mission was unfeasible with the existing ESA budget, so instead the mission was redesigned, with the final flight plan resembling the canceled CRAF mission, an asteroid flyby followed by a comet rendezvous with in-situ examination, including a lander. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Conceptual artwork of the CRAF spacecraft The Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby (CRAF) was a cancelled plan for a NASA led exploratory mission designed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory during the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s, that planned to send a spacecraft to encounter an asteroid, and then to... Conceptual artwork of the CRAF spacecraft The Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby (CRAF) was a cancelled plan for a NASA led exploratory mission designed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory during the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s, that planned to send a spacecraft to encounter an asteroid, and then to... Mariner Mark II was NASAs planned family of unmanned spacecraft for the exploration of the outer solar system that were to be developed and operated by JPL between 1990 thru the year 2010. ... Conceptual artwork of the CRAF spacecraft The Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby (CRAF) was a cancelled plan for a NASA led exploratory mission designed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory during the mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s, that planned to send a spacecraft to encounter an asteroid, and then to... 1993 (MCMXCIII) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003). ...

It was set to be launched on January 12, 2003 to rendezvous with the comet 46P/Wirtanen in 2011. However this plan was abandoned after an Ariane 5 failure on December 11, 2002. A new plan was formed to target the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko with launch on February 26, 2004 and rendezvous in 2014. After two cancelled launch attempts, Rosetta was launched on March 2, 2004 at 7:17 GMT. Besides the changes made to launch time and target, the mission profile remains almost identical. As before, the Rosetta craft will enter a very slow orbit around the comet and gradually slow down in preparation for releasing a lander that will make contact with the comet itself. The lander, named "Philae", will approach 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at relative speed around 1 m/s and on contact with the surface, two harpoons will be fired into the comet to prevent the lander from bouncing off. Additional drills are used to further secure the lander on the comet. January 12 is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 2003 (MMIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Comet Hale-Bopp For other uses, see Comet (disambiguation). ... 46P/Wirtanen is a short-periodic comet with a current orbital period of 5. ... 2011 (MMXI) will be a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Ariane 5 lifts off with the Rosetta probe on 2 March 2004. ... December 11 is the 345th day (346th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... For album titles with the same name, see 2002 (album). ... 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is the designation of a comet with a current orbital period of 6. ... February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2014 (MMXIV) will be a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... March 2 is the 61st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (62nd in leap years). ... For alternate meanings of GMT, see GMT (disambiguation). ... Philae (previously known as RoLand) is the name of the lander that accompanies the Rosetta spacecraft. ... Whaling harpoon A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument used in fishing to catch fish or other large aquatic animals such as whales. ...

Once attached to the comet, the lander will begin its science mission:

• Characterisation of the nucleus
• Determination of the chemical compounds present
• Study of comet activities and developments over time

The exact surface layout of the comet is currently unknown and the orbiter has been built to map this before detaching the lander. It is anticipated that a suitable landing site can be found, although few specific details exist regarding the surface.

Mission timeline

Main article: Rosetta space probe timeline

Computer model of Rosetta probe (NASA)

• This is the planned timeline for the mission after its launch:
  • First Earth fly-by (March 2005)
  • February 26, 2007 Mars fly-by
  • Second Earth fly-by (November 2007)
  • September 5, 2008 - flyby at asteroid 2867 Šteins
  • Third Earth fly-by (November 2009)
  • July 10, 2010 - flyby at asteroid 21 Lutetia
  • Deep-space hibernation (May 2011 - January 2014)
  • Comet approach (January-May 2014)
  • Comet mapping / Characterisation (August 2014)
  • Landing on the comet (November 2014)
  • Escorting the comet around the Sun (November 2014 - December 2015)

Ariane 5 Launch of Rosetta spacecraft

Rosetta is a space probe aiming to rendezvous with the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ... Computer model of the Rosetta space probe URL: [1] Source: [2] Credit: NASA File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... Computer model of the Rosetta space probe URL: [1] Source: [2] Credit: NASA File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... February 26 is the 57th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 2007 (MMVII) will be a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ... September 5 is the 248th day of the year (249th in leap years). ... 2008 (MMVIII) will be a leap year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2867 Å teins is a small main-belt asteroid that was discovered in 1969 by N. S. Chernykh. ... July 10 is the 191st day (192nd in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 174 days remaining. ... 2010 (MMX) will be a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 21 Lutetia (loo TET ee a) is a large Main belt asteroid, about 100 kilometers in diameter. ... Launch of Ariane-5 with the Rosetta space craft (Credits: ESA/CNES/ARIANESPACE-Service Optique CSG, 2004) This pictures was downloaded from the ESA web site. ... Launch of Ariane-5 with the Rosetta space craft (Credits: ESA/CNES/ARIANESPACE-Service Optique CSG, 2004) This pictures was downloaded from the ESA web site. ... Ariane 5 lifts off with the Rosetta probe on 2 March 2004. ...

Major events and discoveries

2004

• March 2 - ESA's Rosetta mission is successfully launched at 07:17 GMT (08:17 Central European Time). The launcher successfully placed its upper stage and payload into an eccentric coast orbit (200 x 4000 km). About two hours later, at 09:14 GMT, the upper stage ignited its own engine to reach an escape velocity in order to leave the Earth’s gravity field and enter heliocentric orbit. The Rosetta probe was released 18 minutes later. ESA’s Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, established contact with the probe shortly after that.

• May 10 - The first and most important deep space maneuver was successfully executed and brings the space craft on its correct course, with a reported inaccuracy of 0.05%.

March 2 is the 61st day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (62nd in leap years). ... Central European Time (CET) is one of the names of UTC+1 time zone, 1 hour ahead of Coordinated Universal Time. ... The European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) is responsible for controlling ESA satellites and space probes. ... Darmstadt is a city in the Bundesland (federal state) of Hessen in Germany. ... May 10 is the 130th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (131st in leap years). ...

2005

• March 4 - Rosetta executed its first planned close flyby of Earth. The Moon and the Earth's magnetic field were used to test and calibrate the instruments on board of the spacecraft. The minimum altitude above the Earth's surface was about 1954.7 km at 22:09 UTC and images of the space probe passing by were captured by amateur astronomers.

• July 4 - Imaging instruments on board observed the collision between the comet Tempel 1 and the impactor of the Deep Impact mission. [1]

March 4 is the 63rd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (64th in leap years). ... July 4 is the 185th day of the year (186th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 180 days remaining. ... Tempel 1 is a periodic comet (formally designated 9P/Tempel 1). ... Deep Impact space probe after impactor separation Deep Impact is a NASA space probe designed to study the composition of the interior of a comets nucleus. ...

Reference

• "Comet chaser has new quarry", BBC News Online, March 7, 2003;

The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC, sometimes also known as the Beeb or Auntie) is the largest broadcasting corporation in the world, founded in 1922. ...

External links

• Rosetta website
• Rosetta Lander an article by Andrew J Ball, 1997.
• gif animation showing images of Rosetta's March 4, 2005 fly-by of Earth.
• Experiments German page with all onboard experiments.
• Parallax demonstration with Rosetta fly-by
• Space Science, News and Articles about Space Science & Technology In Persian Language [دانش فضايي]