Rosetta was a wonderful and useful spacecraft. Results of Rosetta’s mission were very interesting and helpful to the astronomers. The scientific instruments involved in Rosetta’s mission were very supportive in collecting data. There were lots of people longing for Rosetta’s mission. Rosetta’s timeline starts off with Rosetta being launched. On March 2nd, 2004, the spacecraft Rosetta was launched from Kourou, French Guiana along with spacecraft Philae, its lander module. On March 4th, 2005, Rosetta had a planned close swing-by of Earth. In total, Rosetta had a total of three swing-bys of Earth. On July 10th, 2010, Rosetta managed to fly by and photographed asteroid 21 Lutetia. Rosetta started on orbital correction maneuvers to bring itself
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On April 14th, 2015, scientists reported the comet's nucleus has no magnetic field of its own. On September 30th, 2016, the Rosetta mission was ended in an attempt to land on the comet's surface. In total, the mission lasted for 12 years, 6 months, 28 days. During the mission, there were lots of important firsts. Rosetta was the first European spacecraft to have a close encounter with asteroids while passing through the asteroid belt. But, the first spacecraft in general to do that was Pioneer 10; nevertheless, what Rosetta did is a huge accomplishment. Along with traveling through the asteroid belt, Rosetta was also the first to fly close to Jupiter's orbit using solar cells as its main power source. Another great first was orbiting a comet nucleus. A comet nucleus is the solid center part of a comet. Also commonly referred to as dirty snowball or an icy dirtball by some people. The results of the mission were very useful for scientists. For example, scientists originally discovered that 67P’s magnetic field fluctuates from 40–50 millihertz. But, when Philae landed, there was no detection of 67P’s magnetic field. They believe that the magnetic field Rosetta detected was caused by solar winds. Later on Rosetta …show more content…
One device used on the mission was ALICE. ALICE is an ultraviolet imaging spectrograph. ALICE can also search for noble gas content in comet nucleus and measure the content as well. Even though it can do such magnificent things, it only weighs a mere 3.1 kg (6.8 lb). Along with that, it only uses 2.9 watts. ALICE was constructed and managed by the Southwest Research Institute for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Additionally, Rosetta also has CONSERT which stands for Comet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radiowave Transmission. The purpose for CONSERT is to give information about the deep interior of the comet. Using a radar, it performs a tomography on the nucleus. It does this by measuring the electromagnetic wave between the Philae and Rosetta orbiter through the comet nucleus. In doing so, it can determine the comet's internal structure and other information based on the composition. CONSERT was developed in France and its antennas were constructed in Germany. Furthermore, the spacecraft also has ROSINA which stands for Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis. ROSINA is made up of a double-focus magnetic mass spectrometer (DFMS) and a reflectron type time of flight mass spectrometer (RTOF). The DFMS has a high resolution for molecules up to 300 amu. The RTOF on the other hand is highly sensitive for neutral molecules and for ions. ROSINA was developed at the University of Bern in
On April 14th, 2015, scientists reported the comet's nucleus has no magnetic field of its own. On September 30th, 2016, the Rosetta mission was ended in an attempt to land on the comet's surface. In total, the mission lasted for 12 years, 6 months, 28 days. During the mission, there were lots of important firsts. Rosetta was the first European spacecraft to have a close encounter with asteroids while passing through the asteroid belt. But, the first spacecraft in general to do that was Pioneer 10; nevertheless, what Rosetta did is a huge accomplishment. Along with traveling through the asteroid belt, Rosetta was also the first to fly close to Jupiter's orbit using solar cells as its main power source. Another great first was orbiting a comet nucleus. A comet nucleus is the solid center part of a comet. Also commonly referred to as dirty snowball or an icy dirtball by some people. The results of the mission were very useful for scientists. For example, scientists originally discovered that 67P’s magnetic field fluctuates from 40–50 millihertz. But, when Philae landed, there was no detection of 67P’s magnetic field. They believe that the magnetic field Rosetta detected was caused by solar winds. Later on Rosetta …show more content…
One device used on the mission was ALICE. ALICE is an ultraviolet imaging spectrograph. ALICE can also search for noble gas content in comet nucleus and measure the content as well. Even though it can do such magnificent things, it only weighs a mere 3.1 kg (6.8 lb). Along with that, it only uses 2.9 watts. ALICE was constructed and managed by the Southwest Research Institute for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Additionally, Rosetta also has CONSERT which stands for Comet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radiowave Transmission. The purpose for CONSERT is to give information about the deep interior of the comet. Using a radar, it performs a tomography on the nucleus. It does this by measuring the electromagnetic wave between the Philae and Rosetta orbiter through the comet nucleus. In doing so, it can determine the comet's internal structure and other information based on the composition. CONSERT was developed in France and its antennas were constructed in Germany. Furthermore, the spacecraft also has ROSINA which stands for Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis. ROSINA is made up of a double-focus magnetic mass spectrometer (DFMS) and a reflectron type time of flight mass spectrometer (RTOF). The DFMS has a high resolution for molecules up to 300 amu. The RTOF on the other hand is highly sensitive for neutral molecules and for ions. ROSINA was developed at the University of Bern in