Rosetta successfully swings-by Mars

The gravitational energy of Mars helped Rosetta change direction, while the spacecraft was decelerated with respect to the Sun by an estimated 7887 km/hour. The spacecraft is now on the correct track towards Earth - its next destination planet whose gravitational energy Rosetta will exploit in November this year to gain acceleration and continue on its trek.
While the Rosetta orbiter instruments were switched off as planned during several hours around closest approach, which occurred at 03:15 CET today, some of the lander instruments were operational and collected data from Mars.

Image Credit: CIVA / Philae / ESA Rosetta
High resolution image

Stunning image taken by the CIVA imaging instrument on Rosetta's Philae lander just 4 minutes before closest approach at a distance of some 1000 km from Mars.

A portion of the spacecraft and one of its solar arrays are visible in nice detail. Beneath, an area close to the Syrtis region is visible on the planet's disk.




Image Credit: ROMAP / Philae / ESA Rosetta
High resolution image

This graph, drawn thanks to data collected by the ROMAP instrument on board Rosetta's Philae lander, shows how the magnetic environment of Mars becomes complex when the solar wind, initially proceeding unperturbed at supersonic speed (left of the image), encounters the boundary region of the magnetosphere (bow shock), gets decelerated to subsonic speed and becomes turbulent.

The data were collected around closest approach to the Red Planet during the Mars swingby on 25 February 2007.

Time is ploted on the horizontal axis versus intensity of the magnetic field on the vertical axis.

Philae lander in first autonomous operation

This is the first time that the Philae lander operated in a totally autonomous mode, completely relying on the power of its own batteries. This will be the case when the lander will have touched down on comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 and will have to perform its scientific measurements independently from the Rosetta orbiter.

A sequence of observations from Mars close approach were run successfully, providing an important test for the science observations of the comet nucleus to come.

The ROMAP instrument on board Philae measured the intensity of the peculiar magnetic field of Mars around closest approach.

Philae's ROMAP (Rosetta Lander Magnetometer and Plasma Monitor) instrument aims ultimately to study the local magnetic field of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and examine the intensity of the magnetic interaction between the comet and the solar wind in three spatial dimensions ('3D').

The cometary magnetic environment is similar to that of Mars. Mars doesn't have a global planetary magnetic field protecting it from the solar wind. Its complex and 'disturbed' magnetic environment is - in very simplified terms - the result of the combination of the weak magnetosphere surrounding the planet, under continuous attack from the solar wind, with the local magnetic spots (anomalies) that characterise the planet's crust.

The graph presented above plots time on the horizontal axis versus intensity of the magnetic field on the vertical axis.

It shows how the magnetic environment of Mars becomes complex when the solar wind, initially proceeding unperturbed at supersonic speed (left of the image), encounters the boundary region of the magnetosphere (bow shock), gets decelerated to subsonic speed and becomes turbulent. The turbulence continues in the 'tail' of the planet's magnetosphere (right of the image).

These measurements are very important as they show how well the ROMAP instrument is performing. This data set is also almost unique, as the trajectory that Rosetta followed during the Mars swingby is very different from those usually followed by other spacecraft orbiting Mars: only the Russian probe Phobos-2 provided a similar insight into the plasma environment around Mars from this special viewpoint in space.

The Philae lander still has still a long route ahead to ensure success for its highly challenging venture, which requires a safe landing on an unknown icy body, and performing a very complex programmed sequence of operations in a highly constrained environment.

A number of updates and validation of some systems and instruments are still required, which should be implemented during the upcoming cruise phase and the Earth swingby in November 2007.

Beautiful images from Rosetta's OSIRIS instrument during approach to Mars

Image Credit: ESA © 2007 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
High resolution image

An orange (red), green and near-UV colour filter composite image of Mars; the UV channel (the blue color) has been enhanced. The enhanced UV signal clearly shows the presence of the cloud system covering most of the Martian disk.

The image was acquired on 24 February at 19:28 CET from a distance of about 240 000 km; image resolution is about 5 km/pixel.




Image Credit: ESA © 2007 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
High resolution image

This image composite is based on near-infrared, green and near-ultra-violet colour information obtained by the OSIRIS Narrow Angle Camera. At the southern part of the planet, the southern spring polar cap is clearly seen. At this time of the Martian year, a large fraction of Mars' atmosphere is evaporating from the southern polar cap and will migrate to the northern polar cap during nothern winter. Over most of the Martian disk one can see large cloud systems.

The image was acquired on 24 February at 19:28 CET from a distance of about 240 000 km; image resolution is about 5 km/pixel.




Image Credit: ESA © 2007 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
High resolution image

The first true-colour image generated using the OSIRIS orange (red), green and blue colour filers. The image was acquired on 24 February at 19:28 CET from a distance of about 240 000 km; image resolution is about 5 km/pixel.




Image Credit: ESA © 2007 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
High resolution image

This ultraviolet image of Mars was taken on 24 February 2007 with the OSIRIS wide-angle camera through the 'OH' colour filter, intended for the indirect detection of water when observing comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Clouds are visible at the North polar cap of Mars and at the morning 'limb' (border or outermost edge of a celestial body). A high-altitude cloud is also visible and shown in the inset.




Image Credit: ESA © 2007 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
High resolution image

Atmospheric structures can be seen in this image of Mars taken by the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera at 19:28 CET on 24 February 2007 from a distance of about 240 000 km.

The image was produced through a special combination of the green and red colour filters, emphasising the brightness difference. This image processing step enhances the structures in the atmosphere, either dust or clouds.




Image Credit: ESA © 2007 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
High resolution image

Atmospheric structures can be seen in this image of Mars taken by the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera at 19:28 CET on 24 February 2007 from a distance of about 240 000 km.

The image was produced through a special combination of the green and red colour filters, emphasising the brightness difference. This image processing step enhances the structures in the atmosphere, either dust or clouds.

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