The Rosetta probe has woken up ...

GlennB

Loggerheaded, earth-vexing fustilarian
GlennB
Joined
Sep 8, 2006
Messages
33,798
Location
Wales
... ready for its final approach to [comet very long name]. Fascinating stuff.

Quick BBC article

I've been casting around for details but only finding simple news reports. Kind of intrigued as to how they'll synchronise with any major rotation of the comet, or do they already know it's 'quiet' in that respect?
 
GlennB said:
[comet very long name]
Click to expand...

This might come in handy over the next few months.

I'm pleased to see that "Rosetta's alive!" [/BrianBlessed], the mission seems incredible - first a ten-year grand tour just to catch the comet, then into orbit around it as it approaches the sun, then finally landing on the thing.

I really hope it all goes to plan.
 
Nifty.

I'm pretty much an extra-solar system astronomy buff, but this mission is neat.
 
I love this. If a person didn't know what the Rosetta Probe was, then the title of this thread sounds very, very ominous, like something out of the CT sub-forum.
 
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is rotating at about 12.7 hours. Rosetta is not going to synchronise with the comet, but circle around it. At arrival at 6 August (when the approach phase changes into the mapping phase) there will first be a circular orbit at 20 km and later at 40 km, to map the surface of the comet, to find a good landing place for Philae.

67P/CG is going to be relatively quite in outgassing when Rosetta arrives, making these orbits possible. When it gets close to the sun, the activity will increase and a circular is no longer possible, and then very strange pyramid orbits will get started which are basically hyperbola stretches.
 
tusenfem said:
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is rotating at about 12.7 hours. Rosetta is not going to synchronise with the comet, but circle around it. At arrival at 6 August (when the approach phase changes into the mapping phase) there will first be a circular orbit at 20 km and later at 40 km, to map the surface of the comet, to find a good landing place for Philae.

67P/CG is going to be relatively quite in outgassing when Rosetta arrives, making these orbits possible. When it gets close to the sun, the activity will increase and a circular is no longer possible, and then very strange pyramid orbits will get started which are basically hyperbola stretches.
Click to expand...

Wonderful, thanks for that :) Do you have an online source for this stuff? I'm fascinated.

Will Philae be able to 'harpoon' the comet for landing because its rotation is quite slow?
 
tusenfem said:
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is rotating at about 12.7 hours. Rosetta is not going to synchronise with the comet, but circle around it. At arrival at 6 August (when the approach phase changes into the mapping phase) there will first be a circular orbit at 20 km and later at 40 km, to map the surface of the comet, to find a good landing place for Philae.

67P/CG is going to be relatively quite in outgassing when Rosetta arrives, making these orbits possible. When it gets close to the sun, the activity will increase and a circular is no longer possible, and then very strange pyramid orbits will get started which are basically hyperbola stretches.
Click to expand...

ignorant question. are those real orbits? i didn't know you can have orbits around comets.
 
GlennB said:
Do you have an online source for this stuff? I'm fascinated.
Click to expand...
You can find more information about the spacecrafts, instruments and the mission here:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta
http://sci.esa.int/rosetta/
Rosetta blog has mission updates and info: http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/

GlennB said:
Will Philae be able to 'harpoon' the comet for landing because its rotation is quite slow?
Click to expand...
Philae will fire a harpoon immediately after touchdown to prevent it escaping from the weak gravity. Philae's three legs have also screws to fix it onto the surface.

Landing attempt is currently scheduled to happen 11 Nov. The nominal surface mission length is one week but may continue longer. Landing will be a hairraising event.

ESA's Youtube channel has a playlist of Rosetta videos.

Rosetta's orbit around the comet

Philae touch down
 
Last edited:
spin0 said:
You can find more information about the spacecrafts, instruments and the mission here:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta
http://sci.esa.int/rosetta/
Rosetta blog has mission updates and info: http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/

Philae will fire a harpoon immediately after touchdown to prevent it escaping from the weak gravity. Philae's three legs have also screws to fix it onto the surface.

Landing attempt is currently scheduled to happen 11 Nov. The nominal surface mission length is one week but may continue longer. Landing will be a hairraising event.

ESA's Youtube channel has a playlist of Rosetta videos.

Rosetta's orbit around the comet

Philae touch down
Click to expand...

Many thanks for all that.
 
GlennB said:
Wonderful, thanks for that :) Do you have an online source for this stuff? I'm fascinated.

Will Philae be able to 'harpoon' the comet for landing because its rotation is quite slow?
Click to expand...

Online stuff given above already.

The rotation of CG is not a problem, being rather slow.
The problem is unknown consistency of the surface and micro-gravity.
The latter will let Philea bounce back into space again if the harpoon does not function (brrrrrr).
The consistency is not too well known, but from some models the specifics of the power behind the harpoon have been set. Experiments have been made by colleague of mine to see how far it will penetrate for different surface make-ups.
 
tusenfem said:
Online stuff given above already.

The rotation of CG is not a problem, being rather slow.
The problem is unknown consistency of the surface and micro-gravity.
The latter will let Philea bounce back into space again if the harpoon does not function (brrrrrr).
The consistency is not too well known, but from some models the specifics of the power behind the harpoon have been set. Experiments have been made by colleague of mine to see how far it will penetrate for different surface make-ups.
Click to expand...

Small wager Tusenfem?

I predict the lander will encounter SOLID rock.

Scientist will be surprised at its denser than icy-fluffball consistency! :jaw-dropp

not sure if its gunna give as anything regarding the Oort Belt/Pristine left overs but Rosetta will tell us if they are Dirty Snowballs or solid bone dry rock.

Interesting times ahead and fully hope they achieve thier primary goal.

Go Rosetta :D
 
Yeah, it's reported on the BBC site too, with interesting insights into the photography planned.
 
From a description of Big Burn #3 on the esa site:
Both delivered results to within just a few percent of the planed delta-v, indicating that, so far, everything is working nominally with the spacecraft’s propulsion system, even though it is working well outside its design range.
Click to expand...

How is it outside its design range if this probe was designed specifically for this mission?
 
CynicalSkeptic said:
How is it outside its design range if this probe was designed specifically for this mission?
Click to expand...

Ah, but it was not designed for this mission.

Rosetta was supposed to catch up with comet Wirtanen in 2011, but then after the failure of the Ariane 5 (killing the first Cluster mission), the launch was shifted about half a year, but 67P/CG became the new target, with arrival almost 4 years later, and going so far away in the solar system.
 
YAY! the first measurements of water coming from 67P/CG have been publicized, an estimated production rate of 0.5 - 4 x 1025, performed by the MIRO experiment.

See more at the ESA Blog
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Share this page

ISF - Join now!

Every member here is approved by hand. No bots, no spam, just people who care about evidence and honest debate.

Membership is free!

Create your free account

Back
Top Bottom