is a , 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.
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.
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.
It was set to be launched on . 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
Harpoon s 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.
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.
See Also: Rosetta space probe timeline
)]]
- 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)
Launch of Rosetta spacecraft]]
- ) 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 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.
