Rosetta: Landing on a Comet
- Paper number
IAC-04-H.L.4.04
- Author
Prof. Berndt Feuerbacher, Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft und Raumfahrt e.V. (DLR), Germany
- Year
2004
- Abstract
On 2nd March 2004 the European Space Agency has launched a mission called “Rosetta”. This spacecraft will rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, accompany it on its way to the sun in a close orbit and observe it from this position. As part of the mission, a small package is carried, which separates, descents and lands softly on the surface of the comet, where it will carry out a sequence of scientific investigations. Comets are amongst the most interesting bodies in our near space environment. They have been created together with the Sun, planets, and moons, but have not substantially changed since, so they can be regarded as messengers from the time of formation of our planetary system, 4.5 billion years ago. Little information on comets is available today, stemming from flyby missions to comet Halley in 1986, and the comets Borelly (2001) and Wild-2 (2004). From the results obtained, only rough estimates are possible on the local environment near a comet. Orbiter and landing probe therefore had to be designed to cope with a wide range of parameters. The Rosetta mission follows a complicated flight path, which will reach the comets orbit after a number of swing-by manoeuvres using Mars and Earth to gain momentum. The whole journey will take about 10 years, with visits to two asteroids along the way. Landing will be initiated in November 2014, after thorough investigation of the comet from the orbital position. The comet orbiter is equipped with a suite of cameras and spectrometers to observe the comet in wavelengths ranging from the UV to microwaves, and instruments for remote sensing of the comet and its environment. The landing unit called “PHILAE” operates 9 instruments for in-situ measurements. From the results of the overall scientific investigations we expect a deeper insight into the formation of our planetary system and possibly new information on the origin of life.
- Abstract document