* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: Rosetta mission

Blobrana · L

This image of Lutetia (at the center of the image) was acquired by the Navigation Camera A (NAVCAM A) aboard the Rosetta spaceprobe at 05:45:02 CEST, 6 July, 2010, when it was approximately 5.8 million kms away.
The field of view is 5x5 degrees.

Expand (15kb, 1024 x 1024)

Blobrana · L

Since launch, Rosetta has travelled roughly 5 billion kilometres. The solar-powered orbiter was launched on an Ariane 5 in 2004. It has used several gravity assist manoeuvres - three from Earth and one from Mars - to gain the necessary momentum, refine its trajectory and match the orbit of the comet once it reaches the outer Solar System. The orbiter will circle the comet and, after delivering Philae to the surface, eventually escort the comet on its way to the Sun.
At 100 kilometres in size, 21 Lutetia is one of the larger Main Belt Asteroids. The lander will investigate whether the asteroid has a magnetic field and an exosphere, and study their characteristics.
Philae will first be switched on between 12:45 and 15:05 CEST on 7 July so the team can prepare the lander for activities around closest approach. The lander will perform science observations on 10 July.
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Blobrana · L

The Rosetta flyby is now estimated for 15:44:55.97 UTC, 10 July, 2010.

Blobrana · L

Rosetta flyby of asteroid Lutetia on 10 July

The media are invited to ESA's Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany to follow Rosetta's encounter with asteroid Lutetia on 10 July, 18:00-23:00.
The first images of the asteroid will be released before midnight.
Lutetia is a much bigger asteroid, so the flyby will be no closer than about 3200 km.

Blobrana · L

Tracking a pinpoint of light: Rosetta's first glimpse of asteroid Lutetia

This image was acquired 31 May at 03:45 UTC (05:45 CEST) by NavCam A and shows Lutetia as a point of reflected sunlight - it's the small dot at the approximate centre of the image.
A lovely little photo kicks off our Lutetia fly-by coverage! This first image of asteroid Lutetia was captured on 31 May 2010 by Rosetta's Navigation Camera A (there are two, 'NavCam A' and 'NavCam B') and was processed by the Flight Dynamics team here at ESOC, ESA's European Space Operations Centre, in Darmstadt, Germany.

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-- Edited by Blobrana on Thursday 17th of June 2010 12:04:50 PM

Blobrana · L

Rosetta's blind date with asteroid Lutetia

ESA's comet-chaser Rosetta is heading for a blind date with asteroid Lutetia. Rosetta does not yet know what Lutetia looks like but beautiful or otherwise the two will meet on 10 July.
Like many first dates, Rosetta will meet Lutetia on a Saturday night, flying to within 3200 km of the space rock. Rosetta started taking navigational sightings of Lutetia at the end of May so that ground controllers can determine any course corrections required to achieve their intended flyby distance.
The close pass will allow around 2 hours of good imaging. The spacecraft will instantly begin beaming the data back to Earth and the first pictures will be released later that evening.
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Blobrana · L

Since 14 May 2010 (DOY 134) Rosetta has broken its own record of Sun distance, which was from 17 December 2008 and stood at 2.26 AU. Two more milestones will be reached just after the Lutetia flyby this July, when Rosetta, in a period of a few days, will break the record Sun distance for a solar array powered spacecraft (held by NASA's Stardust at 2.72 AU) and also its own record of Earth distance (3.25 AU).
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Blobrana · L

On 10 July 2010, Rosetta will pass by asteroid (21) Lutetia, with closest approach predicted to take place at 15:44 UTC (17:44 CEST).
This will be the spacecraft's second asteroid encounter with an asteroid of the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter.
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-- Edited by Blobrana on Wednesday 2nd of June 2010 10:11:35 PM

Blobrana · L

NASA's Rosetta "Alice" spectrometer reveals Earth's ultraviolet fingerprint in Earth flyby

On November 13, the European Space Agency's comet orbiter spacecraft, Rosetta, swooped by Earth for its third and final gravity assist on the way to humankind's first rendezvous to orbit and study a comet in more detail than has ever been attempted.
One of the instruments aboard Rosetta is the NASA-funded ultraviolet spectrometer, Alice, which is designed to probe the composition of the comet's atmosphere and surface -- the first ultraviolet spectrometer ever to study a comet up close. During Rosetta's recent Earth flyby, researchers successfully tested Alice's performance by viewing the Earth's ultraviolet appearance.

"It's been over five years since Rosetta was launched on its 10-year journey to comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and Alice is working well. As one can see from the spectra we obtained during this flyby of the Earth, the instrument is in focus and shows the main ultraviolet spectral emission of our home planet. These data give a nice indication of the scientifically rich value of ultraviolet spectroscopy for studying the atmospheres of objects in space, and we're looking forward to reaching the comet and exploring its mysteries" - instrument Principal Investigator Dr. Alan Stern, associate vice president of the Space Science and Engineering Division at Southwest Research Institute.

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	Credit: SwRI Download Image
	Credit: ESA ©2009 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA Download Image
	Credit: NASA/JPL/SwRI Download Image

During the spacecraft's approach, the Earth appeared as a crescent. The drawing (generated by the SwRI-developed Geometry Visualization tool) shows the appearance of the Earth as seen from the spacecraft. The red outline shows the orientation of the long slit off the Alice spectrograph. The image of the Earth was taken around the same time by the OSIRIS camera on Rosetta. The plot shows one of the spectra the Alice instrument obtained during this approach to Earth. Some of the emission lines are identified.