Rosetta swing-by a success
Thu Nov 15, 2007 at 08:56 UTC
An important milestone has just been accomplished as Rosetta successfully swung by Earth at 20:57 UTC on November 13. The spacecraft will now be catapulted towards the outer Solar System with its newly-gained energy before coming back to Earth for another boost.
As mission operators waited for the fully automated manoeuvre to be carried out, Rosetta flew directly above 63° 46' south and 74° 35' west, at 20:57 UTC (above the Pacific ocean, south-west of Chile). Rosetta whizzed past 5295 km overhead, at a velocity of 45 000 km/h (12.5 km/s).
Europe's comet chaser has now flown a little over 3 thousand million km of its 7.1 thousand-million-km journey on its way to its destination comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This was the third planetary swing-by for Rosetta and its second swing-by of Earth.
Science close to Earth
Around closest approach, Rosetta took a good look at Earth for observations of its atmosphere and magnetosphere, imaged urban regions, and looked for meteors from space. Shortly before midnight, Rosetta turned to observe the Moon. Following this, on 15, 16, 18 and 20 November, Rosetta will observe the Earth-Moon system from a distance, on its outbound trajectory.
Scientists are now eagerly awaiting some of the first data to become available during the course of the night.
Rosetta will be back in our neighbourhood, and will swing by Earth for the last time in November 2009. But before that, as it crosses the asteroid belt, Rosetta will grab the opportunity to study asteroid Steins during a fly-by in September 2008.
Image Credit: ESA/MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
High resolution image
The Optical Spectroscopic and Infrared Remote Imaging System (OSIRIS) camera on board Rosetta observed Earth during its swing-by.
This image was taken with the OSIRIS Wide Angle Camera (WAC) at 18:45 UTC, November 13, about 2 hours before the closest approach of the spacecraft to Earth. At the time, Rosetta was about 80000 km above the Indian Ocean where the local time approached midnight (the angle between Sun, Earth and Rosetta was about 160°).
Islands of artificial lights created by human habitation are sparsely distributed over the part of the globe seen in the picture.
The image was taken with a five-second exposure of the WAC with the red filter.
Image Credit: ESA/MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
High resolution image
Image Credit: ESA/MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
High resolution image
The Optical Spectroscopic and Infrared Remote Imaging System (OSIRIS) camera on board Rosetta observed Earth during its swing-by.
This image was taken with the Wide Angle Camera (WAC) at 19:05 UTC, November 13, about 2 hours before the closest approach of the spacecraft to Earth. At the time Rosetta was about 75000 km from Earth. A sun-illuminated crescent can be seen around Antarctica. The image is a colour composite combining images obtained at various wavelengths.
Extraordinary Rosetta images
The image series was captured by the spacecraft's OSIRIS (Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System) instrument, which includes a wide-angle camera and a narrow-angle camera to obtain high-resolution images of the destination comet's nucleus and the asteroids that Rosetta passes on its voyage to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
| Source: European Space Agency | |
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