ESA Rosetta, news, updates and discussion Options

[Bjorn Jonsson]

I notice I made a spelling error above ("possbly"). I'm not going to correct it; it reflects that I was excited to see the signal when I was typing!

[general]

Yay! Signal received!

http://www.esa.int/For_Media/Press_Release...ace_hibernation

[nprev]

Just the very, very best news that could be possible today. This is gonna be one hell of a mission. GO ROSETTA!!!!!

[elakdawalla]

Thank goodness!

Lots of useful info in the ESA release so I'll quote some of it here. I thought about starting a new thread, but I think that the time to start a new thread will be with the first images in May.

But first, essential health checks on the spacecraft must be completed. Then the eleven instruments on the orbiter and ten on the lander will be turned on and prepared for studying Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

“We have a busy few months ahead preparing the spacecraft and its instruments for the operational challenges demanded by a lengthy, close-up study of a comet that, until we get there, we know very little about,” says Andrea Accomazzo, ESA’s Rosetta operations manager.

Rosetta’s first images of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko are expected in May, when the spacecraft is still 2 million km from its target. Towards the end of May, the spacecraft will execute a major manoeuvre to line up for its critical rendezvous with the comet in August.

After rendezvous, Rosetta will start with two months of extensive mapping of the comet’s surface, and will also make important measurements of the comet’s gravity, mass and shape, and assess its gaseous, dust-laden atmosphere, or coma. The orbiter will also probe the plasma environment and analyse how it interacts with the Sun’s outer atmosphere, the solar wind.

Using these data, scientists will choose a landing site for the mission’s 100 kg Philae probe. The landing is currently scheduled for 11 November and will be the first time that a landing on a comet has ever been attempted.

In fact, given the almost negligible gravity of the comet’s 4 km-wide nucleus, Philae will have to use ice screws and harpoons to stop it from rebounding back into space after touchdown.

Among its wide range of scientific measurements, Philae will send back a panorama of its surroundings, as well as very high-resolution pictures of the surface. It will also perform an on-the-spot analysis of the composition of the ices and organic material, including drilling down to 23 cm below the surface and feeding samples to Philae’s on-board laboratory for analysis.

The focus of the mission will then move to the ‘escort’ phase, during which Rosetta will stay alongside the comet as it moves closer to the Sun, monitoring the ever-changing conditions on the surface as the comet warms up and its ices sublimate.

The comet will reach its closest distance to the Sun on 13 August 2015 at about 185 million km, roughly between the orbits of Earth and Mars. Rosetta will follow the comet throughout the remainder of 2015, as it heads away from the Sun and activity begins to subside.

[xflare]

45 minutes of terror

[elakdawalla]

Telemetry being received -- it's not just awake, it's talking!

[JohnVV]

long thread but ...
going back a few years and posts
#132 and #188
and some others

there is a shape file for Comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko
ftp://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/naif/generic_...ov-gerasimenko/

and there is a ? almost? wavefront .obj file
ftp://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/naif/generic_...ko/input_files/
it is in that text file

-- a 90x45 px image in radians (Km) 90 north to 90 south X 0 to 360
puled from the "churyumov-gerasimenko_512.bds" file


and the .obj file ( rotated to match the above plate file ) and the "DEM" draped over it

[nprev]

Really happy here.

If all goes as planned, Rosetta promises to be one of the most spectacular missions ever. Getting excited.

[MahFL]

Telemetry being received -- it's not just awake, it's talking!

She's talking .

[4th rock from th...]

and there is a ? almost? wavefront .obj file
ftp://naif.jpl.nasa.gov/pub/naif/generic_...ko/input_files/
it is in that text file

How are you importing it into Blender? Any plugin for CSV data or something?

[JohnVV]

How are you importing it into Blender?

the text file has the shape file in it , fortunately it is small and can be edited in Openoffice Calc or in Excel
"CGRA_FDLRMA_DA_TEST_________00000.ROS" is a text file
the mesh starts here

CODE

META_START
MODEL_TYPE            = POLYHEDRON
GRAVITATIONAL_DENSITY = 2.46864E-08
NUMBER_OF_VERTICES    = 258
NUMBER_OF_FACES       = 512
MINIMUM_DISTANCE      = 0
MAXIMUM_DISTANCE      = 1E15
META_END

     1   -0.011274    0.046966    1.552766
     2    0.297262    0.046966    1.560209
     3   -0.011274    0.343565    1.500196
     4   -0.310337    0.046966    1.512581
     5   -0.011274   -0.244448    1.474127
------------ to line 258------------
   258   -0.011274    0.046966   -1.408970
     1       3 1 2 3
     2       3 1 3 4
     3       3 1 4 5
---------- to line 512----------
512     3 258 254 257

-------
to this

CODE

v -0.011274 0.046966 1.552766
v 0.297262 0.046966 1.560209
v -0.011274 0.343565 1.500196
v -0.310337 0.046966 1.512581
---- to -----
v -0.011274    0.046966   -1.408970
f 1 2 3
f 1 3 4
f 1 4 5
f 1 5 2
f 2 6 7
---- to -----
f 258 254 257

that bit of a header can be removed and the vertex numbers need to be converted to a "v"
and the plate ( face) numbers need to be converted to a "f" and an extra <tab> and 3 needs to be removed

the obj file on my google drive
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B6ZYAd08tZ...dit?usp=sharing

someplace on this site there is a handy python script
converts the PDS .tab file that is really a type of wavefront obj file
"pdsVertexTAB2obj.py"
that script changes the vertex numbers to a "v" and the face numbers to a "f"

[Explorer1]

The end of this Guardian article has some intriguing speculation; nuclei are active, so Philae won't stay where it lands forever. Unlike NEAR, stuck on Eros until the end of time (or a violent homecoming in a few megayears), Philae may very well end up going on a second unplanned voyage in just a few of C-G's orbits....
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/ja...ecraft-wakes-up

[Paolo]

note that there has been another reconstruction of the shape of the nucleus which looks quite different from the pointy shape posted above. see this old post http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...st&p=194503

[cndwrld]

A few links you might find useful:


Rosetta dedicated website:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta

Rosetta in depth: http://sci.esa.int/Rosetta/

Rosetta overview:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Sc...osetta_overview

Rosetta orbiter:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Sc...Rosetta_orbiter

Rosetta Lander:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Sc..._Rosetta_lander

Rosetta instruments (a total of 21);
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Sc...ter_Instruments

Rosetta Factsheet:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Sc...setta_factsheet

Rosetta FAQ:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Sc...asked_questions

Rosetta on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ESA_Rosetta

Rosetta on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RosettaMission

Rosetta dedicated Blog: http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/

Rosetta on You Tube:
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLbyv...AYl-pyEirPi-4Ad

Rosetta for kids:
http://www.esa.int/esaKIDSen/SEMGZ6Z2OMH_OurUniverse_0.html

Rosetta on Flick:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/europeanspace...57638315605535/

Rosetta fly-bys images:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Sc.../Rosetta_flybys

Rosetta 3D Flash model
http://orbits.esa.int/orbits/science/satel...ash/rosetta.swf

Rosetta
images :http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Missions/Rosetta/(class)/image

Rosetta videos and animations:
http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Missions/Rosetta

[xflare]

This New Scientist article on Rosetta seems to imply that there may have been a problem as the "signal arrived late"

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2490...rget-comet.html

"One thing they will be keen to understand first is what happened to cause the half-hour delay. Rosetta's overnight reports may provide the answer."

BUT, the signal arrived within the hour long window as predicted so maybe its just being somewhat "sensational"