Rosetta mission, comet

Rosetta Mission (Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko) Launched on March 2,2004... 

The Rosetta mission with its planned landing on a comet, with analysis of cometary material (see Sect. 3.2), should provide more information on the occurrence of chiral molecular species in the cosmos (Adam, 2002). The GC-MS apparatus installed in the robotic lander RoLand is also able to separate and analyse chiral organic molecules (Thiemann and Meierhenrich, 2001). 

The comet structure model proposed in Figure 6.16 shows clearly that the observation of molecules from Earth must be limited to those molecules present within the coma of the comet, and whilst they originate in part from the structure and composition of the nucleus the molecular observations are of the coma chemistry only. The coma observations will remain until we send a probe to land on the surface of a comet and report back the composition of the core. The Rosetta mission will do just this and we shall see the composition directly from the data it recovers, if successful. 

P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko The comet that the Rosetta mission is scheduled to encounter and then send a probe to land on its surface. 

Rosetta mission The mission to orbit and send a probe to land on the comet 67P/Chur-... 

Evidence for carbynes in comets might come from remote-sensing analyses of the volatile species in the coma of active comets, in particular from the study of carbon-chain molecules abundances [88]. Using narrowband filter photometry, C3 and C2 were detected in amounts that are classified as being typical in comets Hale-Bopp and Halley [89] and as "being depleted in carbon-chain molecules in comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the new target of the ESA ROSETTA mission, and comet LINEAR 1999... 

Abstract. Cometary nuclei are composed mostly of water ice and mineral grains. When a comet passes near the Sun, several processes modify the subsurface layer of the nucleus which, according to theory, produce more cohesion and stratification. Presently a Rosetta mission is being prepared to comet 46P/Wirtanen. Plans are to land on the nucleus and penetrate its subsurface layer with a mechanical tool (experiment Mupus). Thus, understanding of the processes responsible for the evolution of a cometary nucleus is of key importance for the success of the mission and for interpretation of the results. This work is intended to estimate how quickly the process of grain sintering could modify the outer part of nucleus. The numerical model is adopted from previous work by Kossacki [1] however, at present the evolution of the cometary orbit is included. 

Mission Deep Impact In July 2005, NASA steered a projectile, about 370 kg in weight, at the comet 9F/Tempel (dimensions 4x4x14km), in order to obtain more exact information on its structure and composition. The impact was visible from Earth the Rosetta spacecraft discussed above also sent pictures to Earth. The dust/ice ratio determined after the impact is very probably greater than unity, so that comets are probably icy dustballs rather than (as had previously been surmised) dirty snowballs . The density of the cometary nucleus, which seems to consist of porous material, is roughly equal to that of ice. The impact set free around 19 GJ of... 

Although information on the chemical composition and reactivity of interstellar ices can be obtained only from remote observations and laboratory simulations, cometary ices and dusts are subject to direct studies, eg within Vega and Giotto (comet Halley), Stardust (comet Wild 2) and Rosetta (comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko) missions (Figure 8.12). 

Stern s research has taken him to the South Pole, to a number of major astronomical observatories, and to the upper atmosphere aboard high-performance military aircraft. His areas of interest include spacecraft rendezvous theory, terrestrial polar mesospheric clouds, galactic astrophysics, and tenuous satellite atmospheres. He has been principal investigator for a number of space projects, including the European Space Agency s Rosetta/ ALICE Extreme Ultraviolet Spectrometer Experiment (a mission to study Comet 46P/Wirtanen), two Space Shuttle projects, three airborne research projects, and two research rocket projects. In 1995, Stern was selected to be a Space Shuttle Mission Specialist finalist for a forthcoming flight. 

NASA s most recent comet missions are Deep Impact and Rosetta. Deep Impact was launched on January 12, 2005, with Comet Tempel 1 as its target. The spacecraft encountered Tempel 1 on July 3, 2005, at which time it released a 770-pound (350 kg) copper projectile at the comet. Cameras and spectrometers on the spacecraft photographed and collected samples of materials ejected from the comet nucleus and relayed that information to scientists on Earth. Rosetta was launched on March 2, 2004, with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as its target. The spacecraft will orbit the comet and make observations for about two years as the comet approaches the Sun. It will also release a small package of instruments that make the first-ever landing on the surface of a comet. 

Veiy few significant results on the physical properties of cosmic dnst, as revealed by in-situ experiments, may be expected in the coming years. The samples collected by the Stardust (interplanetaiy dust and comet SlPAVild 2 dust) and Hayabnsa (asteroid Itokawa regohth) missions shonld provide information primarily about chemical properties. The ground truth expected from space mission is thus quite far away in the future, with e g. the Rosetta rendezvous with comet 67P/Chuiyumov-Gerasimenko and landing on its nucleus in 2014. 

The international Rosetta comet rendezvous mission is designed to perform a detailed investigation of a comet in our solar system. As part of the core payload for this mission, the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) will determine the elemental, isotopic, and molecular composition of the atmospheres and ionospheres of comets as well as the temperature and bulk velocity of the gas and ions and the homogenous and inhomogenous reactions of gas and ions in the dusty cometary atmosphere and ionosphere [78]. More specifically, the global molecular, elemental, and isotopic composition and the physical, chemical and morphological character of the cometary nucleus will be determined. In addition, Rosetta will elucidate the processes by which the dusty cometary atmosphere and ionosphere are formed and characterize their dynamics as a function of time, heliocentric, and cometocentric positions. 

The Central On-Board Computer of the Philae Lander in the Context of the Rosetta Space Mission. Andras Baldzs, from the Wigner Research Centre for Physics in Budapest, Hungary, presented an overview of the major hardware and software design aspects of the central on-board computer of the Philae lander, which traveled over 10 years as the precious payload of the Rosetta spacecraft that recently made the historical encounter with the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. 

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