Space: Rosetta in close encounter with asteroid

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07 July 2010 - 18H09

Space: Rosetta in close encounter with asteroid
Interactive graphic on European spacecraft Rosetta which is set for a close encounter with the asteroid Lutetia as it continues its odyssey through the Solar System on its way to rendezvous with a comet.

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July 8, 2010 | 0 comments
Rosetta homes in on target asteroid

A European spaceprobe is on final approach to fly past the biggest asteroid ever visited. The billion-euro unmanned Rosetta will make its closest approach to a giant space rock called Lutetia on Saturday. It will spend two hours taking close-up photos and other measurements as it zooms by at 34,000mph (54,000kph).




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A European spaceprobe is on final approach to fly past the biggest asteroid ever visited. The billion-euro unmanned Rosetta will make its closest approach to a giant space rock called Lutetia on Saturday. It will spend two hours taking close-up photos and other measurements as it zooms by at 34,000mph (54,000kph). Rosetta, launched in 2004, will come [...]

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Rosetta probe approaches asteroid Lutetia


By Duncan Geere |09 July 2010 |Categories: Wired Science
Scientists at the European Space Agency's Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany are preparing for a probe to perform a flyby of the largest asteroid ever surveyed by satellite.


The spacecraft, which is called Rosetta, will pass within 3,162 kilometres of the centre of the 100km-wide asteroid 21 Lutetia at a speed of about 54,000 kilometres per hour. It'll take pictures, measure the asteroid's temperature, work out what it's made of, and grab dust particles to see if the asteroid has any kind of atmosphere.


Lutetia orbits between Mars and Jupiter and is thought to consist of material left over from the formation of planets. The idea behind the flyby is to try and find out more about our own origins -- one prominent theory for the formation of life on earth is that it arrived on an asteroid.


Rosetta is conducting the flyby on the way to its main mission goal -- a study of the comet 67P/Churyumov, which it'll intercept in 2014. Following the encounter with 21 Lutetia, it'll shut its systems down for deep space hibernation until it approaches the comet, when it'll spring back into life.


Dr Dan Andrews of the Open University will be at mission control, and told Wired: "Rosetta will be using its suite of instruments to study Lutetia in amazing detail, producing stunning images of a surface battered and cratered since the dawn of time.
"Asteroid Lutetia is an enigmatic body, roughly 100 km across and like all asteroids composed of the ‘rubble’ left over from the formation of the planets -- as such, understanding these mysterious objects orbiting mostly between Mars and Jupiter can shed new light on our own origins."


From there it'll enter orbit around the comet's core, and drop a landing vehicle to try and find out more about its composition, firing a pair of harpoons into its surface during its descent to keep it attached and stop it from bouncing off. It'll then accompany the comet as it approaches the Sun, before ending its mission in 2015.


Andrews added: "Rosetta is Europe’s comet chaser: a 3 tonne spacecraft hurtling through space on a ten-year mission to intercept and rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in May 2014, before entering orbit around the 4 km wide nucleus and later releasing a lander to the surface.


"The journey is not simple, and along the way Rosetta has to date flown past Earth three times and Mars once, on each occasion stealing energy from the planet in a ‘gravitational slingshot’, modifying its orbit to closer match that of the comet -- saving fuel in doing so."


Pictures from the fly-by will be appearing on the agency's Rosetta photo gallery from late in the evening on 10 July, 2010. More data will follow in the days afterward. There's also a liveblog from mission control, if you want to follow proceedings in even greater detail.

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Rosetta craft visiting asteroid, on way to intercept comet








Posted: Sunday, July 11, 2010 12:15 am | Updated: 5:39 pm, Thu Jul 8, 2010.
By Larry Pratt New Braunfels Astronomy Club | 0 comments


Many who read of spaceflight news will remember this name: Rosetta.


Which mission was that? It was launched by the European Space Agency six years ago: Been on its journey into night since March 2004. It has swung past Earth three times in an ever-greater arc designed to fling it far into the depths of the solar system.


Sky & Telescope magazine columnist Jonathan McDowell follows the progress of deep-space unmanned missions such as Rosetta.


"Rosetta circled the sun once before its first return in March 2005, which boosted its orbit out to meet Mars in February 2007. The Mars flyby sent Rosetta into the inner asteroid belt, then back to Earth. ..."


McDowell says its final Earth flyby, last Nov. 13, gave Rosetta enough momentum so that it will reach Jupiter's distance of 474 million miles, "where it will rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 and drop a lander onto its nucleus."


But first, Rosetta is doing additional work this weekend:


"Along the way," McDowell wrote last December, "on July 10, 2010, Rosetta will also check out the main-belt asteroid 21 Lutetia. With a diameter of (60 miles), Lutetia will be by far the largest asteroid yet visited by a space probe."


TONIGHT'S SKY: Observers along a narrow path crossing the South Pacific Ocean and into South America will see a total solar eclipse today. At maximum, the moon will completely hide the sun for 5 minutes, 20 seconds.


E-mail questions, comments to nbbastronomy@gmail.com.

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Rosetta Spacecraft Woken Up From 2 Year Nap, On Its Way To Land On Ancient Comet (VIDEO)

By Rebekah Marcarelli r.marcarelli@hngn.com | Jan 16, 2014 12:39 PM EST

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An artist's impression of the Rosetta craft on its way to the comet. (Photo : ESA/NASA)

A spacecraft that has been on a decade-long trip to observe a comet is set to wake up from a two-year nap; the craft will now embark on the "home stretch" of its journey.


If the mission, dubbed "Rosetta", is successful this will be the first time a craft actually lands on a comet, a University of Michigan news release reported.


The researchers will look at measurements taken at the comet site in hopes of gaining insight into how solar wind relates to the formation of solar storms. Solar winds are "[streams]of charged particles emanating from the Sun," while storms are sudden increases in activity that can harm astronauts and satellites.


"How the solar wind operates is one of the biggest outstanding questions about the solar system today. By studying how it interacts with cometary gases, we can learn a lot about the composition of the solar wind," Tamas Gombosi, the Rollin M. Gerstacker Professor of Engineering in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, said in the news release.


In the Sun's equator the wind tends to move at a relatively slow pace; it often increases in speed when it reaches higher latitudes. These winds have been linked to solar storms, but it is difficult to observe the winds' interactions from an Earthly vantage point.


"But comets pass through all of it. With their help, we can study the fast solar wind," Gombosi said.


The craft will also study complex chemical reactions in the comet that could not be observed from far away. The researchers will look at how quickly the object's core is turning from a solid to a gas (sublimating) as well as carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide levels.


"It's very difficult to observe some of the chemical species when they're far away and faint. Carbon dioxide is probably the second most abundant species at most comets, but it's not been observed in the thousands we've looked at from Earth," Michael Combi, the Freeman Devold Miller Collegiate Research Professor in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, said.


Comets are extremely ancient; they were present in the nebula that birthed the solar system. The researchers look forward to treating them as "archaeological artifacts" that could help them learn about the birth and early days of the universe.


"On the lander, there's a camera that can look straight down like you're standing up and looking at the ground. Then there's a panoramic camera that can look out and see a picture of the horizon. It'll be fun to see what this landscape looks like," Combi said. "It'll be like standing on a comet."

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'Standing on a Comet': Rosetta Mission Will Contribute to Space Weather Research

Released: 1/16/2014 10:00 AM EST
Source Newsroom: University of Michigan

Newswise — ANN ARBOR—A comet-bound spacecraft that's been in sleep mode for more than two years is scheduled to wake up on the morning of Jan. 20—beginning the home stretch of its decade-long journey to a mile-wide ball of rock, dust and ice.


If all goes as planned, Rosetta—a European Space Agency-led mission that involves University of Michigan engineers and scientists—will be the first craft to actually land on a comet as well as track it for an extended period of time.


The Philae lander will latch on to the core of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in November and the orbiter will operate until the end of 2015. No mission has ever attempted such an in-depth look at one of these relics of the earliest days of our solar system.


Engineers at U-M's Space Physics Research Lab built electronic components for an onboard instrument that's believed to be the most sensitive of its kind ever flown in space. And a team of researchers will be involved in the mission science as well.


While most of the big questions Rosetta aims to answer deal with the origin and evolution of the solar system, U-M scientists will make a unique contribution that could provide very practical insights into how the sun and planets interface today.


They'll analyze measurements taken at the comet to study solar wind interactions that can lead to solar storms. The solar wind is a stream of charged particles emanating from the sun. Solar storms are bursts of activity that can threaten astronauts and damage Earth's satellites and electric grid.


"How the solar wind operates is one of the biggest outstanding questions about the solar system today. By studying how it interacts with cometary gases, we can learn a lot about the composition of the solar wind," said Tamas Gombosi, the Rollin M. Gerstacker Professor of Engineering in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences.


Gombosi and his research group are leaders in the field of space weather. A model they developed was recently adopted by the national Space Weather Prediction Center.


At the sun's equator, the wind travels rather slowly, Gombosi said. It moves faster at high latitudes. Interactions between the two varieties can lead to magnetospheric storms. Earth orbits near the equator, so it's hard to study the fast wind from our vantage point.


"But comets pass through all of it. With their help, we can study the fast solar wind," Gombosi said.


Gombosi and other U-M researchers will be involved in additional Rosetta goals. They'll study and simulate how quickly the comet outgases material from its nucleus to its tail as it rings around the sun. They'll be involved in examining what elements are in the comet's tail, atmosphere and ionosphere, as well as how fast the electrified particles in the ionosphere are traveling.


Michael Combi, the Freeman Devold Miller Collegiate Research Professor in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences, is a co-investigator on several instruments. He'll look into the rate at which the comet's core is sublimating, or turning from a solid into a gas, and he'll also work on a team that's analyzing those gases.

They'll explore the levels of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide, for example. They can't detect carbon dioxide from Earth.


"It's very difficult to observe some of the chemical species when they're far away and faint. Carbon dioxide is probably the second most abundant species at most comets, but it's not been observed in the thousands we've looked at from Earth," said Combi, who has studied comets for more than 30 years.


Comets—small rock and ice bodies—were present in the nebula that spawned the solar system and have been orbiting ever since in far away, cold belts either just past the orbit of Neptune or a quarter of the distance to the nearest star. For scientists, they're archeological artifacts that help them understand how the solar system formed and evolved. They're believed to have delivered Earth's oceans and perhaps the seeds of life in organic materials.


"People use the analogy that it's been in the freezer for the past 4.5 million years and brought in for convenient study. So we're looking as much as we can at the way the way the solar system was 4.5 billion years ago," Combi said.


Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko is one of the smallest bodies humans have ever tried to land on. Its gravity is about 1,000 times less than that of Earth.


"On the lander, there's a camera that can look straight down like you're standing up and looking at the ground. Then there's a panoramic camera that can look out and see a picture of the horizon. It'll be fun to see what this landscape looks like," Combi said. "It'll be like standing on a comet."


Others in the U-M Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences involved in the mission are Kenneth "K.C." Hansen, research associate professor; Valeriy Tenishev, assistant research scientist; and Andre Bieler, research fellow.


Michael Combi: www-personal.umich.edu/~mcombi/