The Rosetta spacecraft is unmanned and is controlled from the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany and at the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC) in Madrid, Spain.
Rosetta is operated from the ground and commands are sent to the craft to adjust its path towards the comet. Theses commands can take up to 50 minutes to reach Rosetta from Earth.
Rosetta’s Science Ground Segment are responsible for the collection and distribution of the scientific data that Rosetta sends back to Earth.
Rosetta has built in intelligence to enable it to man itself.
Rosetta controls its own data management with built in computers. These allow the craft to set its own orbit control. There are backup systems to ensure the spacecraft stays …show more content…
The Rosetta spacecraft is named after the Rosetta stone which unlocked the mystery of Egyptian Hieroglyphics. Scientists hope that the Rosetta mission will hold the key to unlock the mysteries of how the solar system evolved.
The Rosetta is not alone on its mission. On board it carried a small landing module called Philae which is around 35 cubic feet in size. Philae is named after an island on the river Nile, where an obelisk was found containing an inscription which played a vital role in deciphering the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta stone. The lander was designed to fire harpoon to anchor itself onto the comet. Once attached Philae was due to send back pictures of the surface of the comet and perform analysis of the composition of the ices or organic material of the comet. Philae is equipped with a drill to take samples.
Rosetta’s mission is to chase, orbit and land on a comet. The comet chosen for this mission is Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko which is in the Jupiter family of Comets. Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is thought to be a large dirty snowball around 4.4 kilometres in diameter whose orbit around the sun takes 6.6 years. This makes it a short period …show more content…
The comets average temperature is thought to be -70’C which indicates that the surface is mostly dark and dusty rather than clean and icy. The nucleus of the comet comprises 2 distinct segments joined by a neck giving it a duck like appearance.
There are 19 distinct regions on the comet each named after an Egyptian deity. Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is named after its discoverers Klim Churyumov and Svetlana Gerasimenko, astronomers from Kiev who spotted the comet for the first time in 1969.
The P identifies short period comets with a well established orbit around the sun and that take less than 200 years to complete a solar revolution.
The number 67 refers to the comets in the list of catalogued periodic comets.
Rosetta and Philae’s mission is to be the first craft to make a detailed study of a comet. Rosetta will follow the comet on its journey through the inner solar system measuring the increase in activity as the icy surface is warmed by the sun. Philae will focus on the composition and structure of the comets nucleus material. Philae will drill 20cm into the comets surface to collect
Rosetta is operated from the ground and commands are sent to the craft to adjust its path towards the comet. Theses commands can take up to 50 minutes to reach Rosetta from Earth.
Rosetta’s Science Ground Segment are responsible for the collection and distribution of the scientific data that Rosetta sends back to Earth.
Rosetta has built in intelligence to enable it to man itself.
Rosetta controls its own data management with built in computers. These allow the craft to set its own orbit control. There are backup systems to ensure the spacecraft stays …show more content…
The Rosetta spacecraft is named after the Rosetta stone which unlocked the mystery of Egyptian Hieroglyphics. Scientists hope that the Rosetta mission will hold the key to unlock the mysteries of how the solar system evolved.
The Rosetta is not alone on its mission. On board it carried a small landing module called Philae which is around 35 cubic feet in size. Philae is named after an island on the river Nile, where an obelisk was found containing an inscription which played a vital role in deciphering the hieroglyphics on the Rosetta stone. The lander was designed to fire harpoon to anchor itself onto the comet. Once attached Philae was due to send back pictures of the surface of the comet and perform analysis of the composition of the ices or organic material of the comet. Philae is equipped with a drill to take samples.
Rosetta’s mission is to chase, orbit and land on a comet. The comet chosen for this mission is Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko which is in the Jupiter family of Comets. Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is thought to be a large dirty snowball around 4.4 kilometres in diameter whose orbit around the sun takes 6.6 years. This makes it a short period …show more content…
The comets average temperature is thought to be -70’C which indicates that the surface is mostly dark and dusty rather than clean and icy. The nucleus of the comet comprises 2 distinct segments joined by a neck giving it a duck like appearance.
There are 19 distinct regions on the comet each named after an Egyptian deity. Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is named after its discoverers Klim Churyumov and Svetlana Gerasimenko, astronomers from Kiev who spotted the comet for the first time in 1969.
The P identifies short period comets with a well established orbit around the sun and that take less than 200 years to complete a solar revolution.
The number 67 refers to the comets in the list of catalogued periodic comets.
Rosetta and Philae’s mission is to be the first craft to make a detailed study of a comet. Rosetta will follow the comet on its journey through the inner solar system measuring the increase in activity as the icy surface is warmed by the sun. Philae will focus on the composition and structure of the comets nucleus material. Philae will drill 20cm into the comets surface to collect