[X] My Assistant

[paxdan]

Well Rosetta isn't going to get to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (Chury) till 2014, but it's not to early to set up a thread. There are a bunch of earth fly-bys, a Mars encounter at 200km in 2007 and a few asteriod passes. Not to mention the mission to land on the comet itself.

Only another nine and a half years to go.

[Rakhir]

Rosetta warms up for Mars swing-by
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMNJ8D4VUE_index_0.html

Instruments from both Rosetta orbiter and Philae lander will be used during the observation campaign.
The purpose of the 36-hour observation campaign of 21-Lutetia is to understand the rotation direction of the asteroid.

Rosetta will be able to observe Mars from about 20 hours before it makes its closest approach to about a few weeks after.
Rosetta instruments will be switched off around the eclipse period. However, Philae lander will still be operating and taking measurements during the eclipse as the lander has its own independent power system.

[mchan]

The ESA Rosetta website has a list of the various planetary and asteroid flyby's and their dates, but I did not find a graphic / plot of the trajectory. Is there a figure of the trajectory on ESA (or another public) website that shows the flyby's similar to the figure on the Messenger website for the Messenger mission --

http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/trajectory.html

[IM4]

The ESA Rosetta website has a list of the various planetary and asteroid flyby's and their dates, but I did not find a graphic / plot of the trajectory. Is there a figure of the trajectory on ESA (or another public) website that shows the flyby's similar to the figure on the Messenger website for the Messenger mission --
http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/the_mission/trajectory.html

I recommend you download this file (3 Mb). It is mostly about planned plasma science but also contains a pair of schematic graphics like those I’ve attached to the message. On the image you can see Mars, orbits of Phobos (red), Deimos (green), estimated orbits of Mars Express (black), MGS (cyan), Mars Odyssey (yellow) and of course Rosetta trajectory (blue) - the spacecraft will approach Mars from the dayside (from the right) and make a swingby on the opposite side of Mars. There are also several useful figures and groundtrack in the file, so I can derive approximate timeline and summarize it as follows :

24 Feb. 2007 07.48 UT – flyby phase begins
25 Feb. 2007 01.00 UT – close approach to Mars begins
- 01.30-01.43 UT - Rosetta flies over Arabia Terra (h>3000 km)
- 01.45-01.50 UT – Rosetta crosses Chryse Planitia (2000>h>500 km)
- 01.55 UT – closest approach over Tempe Terra ~ 300E, 45N (h=250 km)
- 01.56 UT – Rosetta enters Mars shadow
- 02.05 UT – Rosetta flies over Olympus Mons (h=3000 km)
- 02.20 UT – Rosetta leaves Mars shadow (h=10000 km)
25 Feb. 2007 20.03 UT – flyby phase ends

It’s a real pity that significant part of the closest flyby happens in the nightside. Visual imaging will be possible only at greater distance and with moderate resolution, but I still hope that VIRTIS’s IR –cam can capture magnificent photo of martian plains [fixed:)] and mountains throughout the entire flyby. Another instruments are also expected to obtain interesting results.

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