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Rosetta is an European Space Agency led unmanned space mission, launched in 2004, and intended to study the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It consists of two main elements, the Rosetta space probe and the Philae lander. The probe is named after the Rosetta Stone, as it is hoped the mission will help unlock the secrets of how our solar system looked before planets formed. The lander is named after the Nile island Philae , where an obelisk was found that helped decipher the Rosetta Stone.
During the mid 1980s media and scientific hype around the Comet Halley, a number of international space probes were sent to explore the cometary phenomena, most prominent among them being ESA's highly successful Giotto. After the probes returned a treasure-trove of valuable scientific information it was becoming obvious that follow-ons were needed that would shed more light on the complex cometary composition and resolve the newly opened questions.
Both NASA and ESA started cooperatively developing new probes, the NASA led effort was the Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby or CRAF mission, the follow-on Comet Nucleus Sample Return or CNSR mission was to be an ESA led effort, both missions were to share the common Mariner Mark II design, thus minimizing costs. In 1992, after NASA axed CRAF because of budgetary limitations imposed by the US Congress, ESA’s management started viewing NASA as an unreliable partner and decided on developing the spacecraft by themselves. By 19931993 is a common year starting on Friday and marked the Beginning of the International Decade to Combat Racism and Racial Discrimination (1993-2003 Events January January 1 Czechoslovakia divides. Establishment of independent Slovakia and Czech Republic. it was evident that the ambitious sample return mission was unfeasible with the existing ESA budget, so instead the mission was redesigned, with the final flight plan resembling the canceled CRAF mission, an asteroid flyby followed by a comet rendezvous with in-situ examination, including a lander.
It was set to be launched on January 12January 12 is the 12th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. There are 353 days remaining (354 in leap years). Events 1528 Gustav I of Sweden crowned king of Sweden 1709 Little Ice Age: Two-month freezing period begins in France The coast of the Atla, 20032003 is a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar), and also: The International Year of Freshwater The European Disability Year Summary Perhaps the defining global event of the year 2003 was the Invasion of Iraq launched by the U to rendezvous with the cometHalley's Comet nucleus sunlit from the left. A comet is a relatively small astronomical object similar to an asteroid but composed largely of ice. In Earth's solar system, the orbits of comets may extend past that of Pluto; of the comets which enter the i 46P/WirtanenComets 46P/Wirtanen is a short-periodic comet with a current orbital period of 5. It was the original target for close investigation by the Rosetta spacecraft, planned by the European Space Agency. It belongs to the Jupiter family of comets, all of which in 20112011 is a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). Predicted events January 4 Partial solar eclipse March NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft is scheduled to arrive in orbit around Mercury. April 24 Easter has not been as late as this since 1943.. However this plan was abandoned after an Ariane 5The Ariane 5 is an expendable launch system, designed by the European Space Agency (ESA) and manufactured, operated and marketed by Arianespace as part of the Ariane programme. Arianespace builds the rockets in Europe and launches from a space port at Kou failure on December 11, 2002. A new plan was formed to target the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko with launch on February 26, 2004 and rendezvous in 2014. After two cancelled launch attempts, Rosetta was launched on March 2, 2004 at 7:17 GMT. Besides the changes made to launch time and target, the mission profile remains almost identical. As before, the Rosetta craft will enter a very slow orbit around the comet and gradually slow down in preparation for releasing a lander that will make contact with the comet itself. The lander, named " Philae", will approach 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at relative speed around 1 m/s and on contact with the surface, two harpoons will be fired into the comet to prevent the lander from bouncing off. Additional drills are used to further secure the lander on the comet.
Once attached to the comet, the lander will begin its science mission:
The exact surface layout of the comet is currently unknown and the orbiter has been built to map this before detaching the lander. It is anticipated that a suitable landing site can be found, although few specific details exist regarding the surface.