Presenters:

There are talking points in the notes

section at the bottom of some of the
slides (not visible in slide show mode).

Enjoy!

THE ROSETTA
MISSION

What are comets?

Ice and dust.

There are lots of rocks floating around

outside of the solar system. Occasionally,
one changes trajectory, into the system.

Why go?

Discover details of comets composition.

How did solar system evolve?
Do comets contain essential ingredients
of life?
Are they the origin of the building blocks
of life on earth?

Basic facts about

mission:

30 years of planning;
10 years flying time: launched in March
2004 on Ariane-5 rocket;
$1.7 billion;
Rosetta is the size of an SUV;
Each solar panel just shorter than a
semi-truck;
Philae - washing machine size.

Why is this an amazing mission?

Distance to comet required hibernation;

Speed required.

Hibernation

On 08 June 2011, Rosetta was put into

hibernation. No contact. Planned
wakeup date: 20 Jan 2014.
Three (3) years no contact!

Why?

Mission delays

Fatal flaws with Ariane rockets delayed

Rosetta mission over one year. Couldn't
catch originally-planned comet.

67P

They found a new comet. 67P / ChuryumovGerasimenko. At the limit of Rosetta's distance
capabilities. 500 million miles from sun.
Solar panels could not get enough power. (4% of
intensity of solar power on earth.)

Hibernation

Turn off all non-essential equipment;

Lose comm.

Hibernation (contd)

Problem -- they had to shut down the

gyrostabilizers.
Now craft could rotate (solar panels
could move away from sun, losing the
4% energy they needed to keep essentials [heaters, etc] running).
Solution? ...

Spin Rosetta!

Wake up time:

Stop spin;
Get oriented. (Adjust alignment so
antenna is pointing to earth).
How?

Star Trackers!

Next send radio pulse

Green is background radio noise

8 hours late, spike

appears!

Need for Speed!

67P traveling at speeds as high as

135,000 kph (83,885 mph) (Space
Shuttle in orbit goes 17,500 mph.)
No space craft has ever gone this fast
before.
Issue: more speed -> more fuel -> more
weight -> more fuel -> more weight etc.
So they used four (4) gravity assist
maneuvers, also called sling shots.

Speed (contd)

Rosetta was going 76,000 mph after first

sling.
(Earth actually slowed one million
millionths of a mile per hour -- giving its
speed to Rosetta)
2 more Earth sling shots, 1 Mars sling
shot.
Finally got craft to rendezvous speed.

(Position of craft and planets approximate)

Red dot indicates approximate intersection with planet.

Latest News

Landing site:

Philae Sleeping

The lander is now in sleep mode.

Not getting enough sunlight due to
landing bounce.
Could revive as it gets closer to sun.

They found organic compound!

Could replicate 2006 finding of an amino

acid (glycine) in comet dust collected
from tail of comet (mission: Stardust);
Theory: 3.8 billion years ago -- comet
hit earth, seeding it with amino acids
the building blocks of life!

More data coming

Rosetta continues to send data from its

orbit around 67P.

Main Source:

Google:

To catch a comet PBS Video

(Make sure the entry you click has the

word video in it)

1 hour documentary: free.

One Gigundo step for humankind!

Slide show created by Capt Nafissian, AEO, SWR-AZ-107 (Sedona, AZ)