ESA Rosetta, news, updates and discussion Options

[machi]

Good night Rosetta.

[Astro0]

ESA Release: "We sent the command via NASA's 70 m Deep Space Network station in Canberra, Australia, ensuring the signal was transmitted with enough power to reach Rosetta, which is now 549 million km from Earth"

It has been a hive of activity here for the past week. ESA wanted to have some people on the ground here in Canberra to ensure that everything went well. We did our usual magnificent job of course and, as confirmed by their media release, the ESA team were very happy with how it all turned out.

Sleep well Rosetta, the alarm is set for 2014

[Paolo]

I had yet to see any scientific result of the 2007 Mars flyby, so this paper is quite welcome: Rosetta-Alice Observations of Exospheric Hydrogen and Oxygen on Mars

[cotopaxi]

I had yet to see any scientific result of the 2007 Mars flyby, so this paper is quite welcome: Rosetta-Alice Observations of Exospheric Hydrogen and Oxygen on Mars

There are a few more publications:
A. Boeswetter et al., Rosetta swing-by at Mars - an analysis of the ROMAP measurements in comparison with results of 3-D multi-ion hybrid simulations and MEX/ASPERA-3 data,
Annales Geophysicae, Volume 27, Issue 6, 2009, pp.2383-2398

N. J. T. Edberg et al., Simultaneous measurements of Martian plasma boundaries by Rosetta and Mars Express,
Planetary and Space Science, Volume 57, Issue 8-9, p. 1085-1096, 2009

N. J. T. Edberg et al., Rosetta and Mars Express observations of the influence of high solar wind pressure on the Martian plasma environment,
Annales Geophysicae, Volume 27, Issue 12, 2009, pp.4533-4545

A. Coradini et al., Martian atmosphere as observed by VIRTIS-M on Rosetta spacecraft,
Journal of Geophysical Research, Volume 115, Issue E4, CiteID E04004, 2010

[cotopaxi]

Most of the Rosetta cruise phase data up to the Steins flyby are now archived, see
http://www.rssd.esa.int/index.php?project=...mp;page=rosetta

[ugordan]

Looks like the content mirrors that of the PDS Small Bodies Node archive. Too bad the VIRTIS dataset wasn't released. Earth (Mars as well?) high spectral resolution visual spectra = yummy.

[cotopaxi]

Looks like the content mirrors that of the PDS Small Bodies Node archive. Too bad the VIRTIS dataset wasn't released. Earth (Mars as well?) high spectral resolution visual spectra = yummy.

Yes, Rosetta data are released simultaneously by PSA and PDS. Yes, VIRTIS is still missing. Don´t know the status of that.

[Paolo]

an interesting paper recently published in Astronomy & Astrophysics:
The nucleus of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko - A new shape model and thermophysical analysis (in free access after registration)
if the authors are right, the nucleus of C-G should look more like a flattened spheroid than like a starfish as assumed until now. they predict that it may resemble a rounded body like Tempel 1.

[Phil Stooke]

From my point of view this is a much more realistic shape model. The oddly symmetrical star-shape of the previous model screamed 'artifact' at me.

Phil

[Gerald]

Cited from ESA ACTIVITIES IN 2013 OF INTEREST TO MEDIA - UPDATE 25 APRIL 2013:

Rosetta will wake up from its hibernation in January 2014. A press conference will be organised to brief media about the mission milestones in 2014.
Location: ESOC, Darmstadt (Germany)
Date: November

[Explorer1]

Just found this: cute LEGO model and some information I didn't know (descent camera MSL style, and interesting ways of coping with the cold cometary night!)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwkliXod6Ns

[Gerald]

Some more infos/pictures of recent activities in this ESA Rosetta blog.

Edit: Official press release of 11 October 2013: 100 days to wake-up.

Rosetta’s internal alarm clock is set for 10:00 GMT on 20 January 2014.
...
“We don’t know exactly at what time Rosetta will make first contact with Earth, but we don’t expect it to be before about 17:45 GMT on the same day,” says Fred Jansen, ESA’s Rosetta mission manager.

[Explorer1]

I know it's a little early, but does anyone have any clue towards what EOM at the end of 2015 really means for Rosetta? The official pages say little about it, and I know the main factor against an extended mission is probably the greater distance from the Sun causing power loss, but will it just be left in parking orbit? Might as well try a daring NEAR-style end if the ship and its instruments are still functioning well...

[Gerald]

All I remember from semi-public sources is, that they actually don't know yet how long the mission can be sustained, because several properties of the comet are unknown. The uncertainty begins with the strength and structure of the assumed crust of the comet, relevant for the way the lander can hopefully be fixed to the surface, and ends with the way the surface of the comet may desintegrate.
The orbiter will first try to reduce some of the uncertainties by propper mapping.
Power isn't expected to be available for continuous operation, but for phases of operation and phases of battery recharge.

[Explorer1]

Details about press conference on the 10th being streamed online:

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Sc..._and_year_ahead