Rosetta spacecraft automatic , which carries nearly nine years traveling the solar system, 31 months ago was scheduled for today to wake up from hibernation and get in touch with the Earth. If all goes well, the next August will reach the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gesasimenko on a mission that has never been tried before: in orbit of the celestial object, releasing a lander to its surface and accompany him on his journey toward the center of the solar system to investigate the process of cometary activation. This is one of the most ambitious scientific missions of the European Space Agency (ESA).
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- ‘Rosetta’: cosmic encounter one day before the final
- probe ‘Rosetta’ is about 250 kilometers successful Mars on his way to a comet
- hibernation for 31 months and 800 million miles
Rosetta is now a little over 807 million kilometers and 673 million kilometers from the Sun The probe, since its launch in 2004, has become part of your trip awake , and has even made scientific observations of two asteroids (Stein and Lutetia) that were in its path. But on the long journey to the comet could do little, so in mid-2011, the engineers programmed the alarm for today (with the entire sequence of operations to resume contact) and put all your equipment for this phase of lethargy ship: they directed their solar panels toward the Sun and the spacecraft rotation (full circle on itself per minute). Then all devices are turned off except the onboard computer and several heaters.
alarm was set for today at 11am (GMT), but those responsible for mission control not know right away if the ship has left the lethargy and under what conditions. The first thing to consider is that any radio signal to send Rosetta , a distance of 807 million kilometers now, takes 45 minutes to reach Earth (light traveling at a speed of 300,000 kilometers per second in a vacuum). But the agenda that was loaded on the computer after waking consists of a sequence of several operations before resuming contact with the control center, says the ESA: immediately after sounding the alarm, start heating device star tracking to facilitate orientation of the ship (about six hours), then ignite its engines to slow the rotation, adjust its orientation to ensure that the solar panels are facing the sun directly Once this sequence is completed Rosetta turn on your transmitter and pointing the main antenna toward Earth to send the signal that is activated. Those responsible for the mission are very outstanding in the center of ESOC control, ESA, in Darmastadt (Germany). It’s like warning a friend to put the clock one day, within a few months, at eight in the morning to get to breakfast a few hours later. Until you get the friend at the appointed time one can not know if it worked and if the alarm is properly aroused.
today estimated time for receiving the first signal Rosetta after this dormant period is between 18.30 and 19.30. The antennas of the Deep Space Network (DSN) of NASA and ESA antenna in New Norcia (Australia) are listening.
After reactivation, once operators have verified the health status of all systems and equipment of the ship, carrying scientific instruments to double check its operation will light. All of this phase will last a few months.
Not the first time it gets lethargic spacecraft traveling through the solar system, and in the past everything went smoothly. The Giotto spacecraft , for example, happened to Halley’s comet in March 1986 was put into hibernation after achieving the first goal and was reactivated after many 26P/Grigg-Skjellerup kite to fly in July , 1992.
Rosetta , with nearly three tons of mass at launch (including fuel, scientific equipment and the Philae lander ) broke the 2 March 2004, more than a year late on the originally scheduled date due to problems with the Ariane 5 rocket. That delay forced to change the fate of the mission, which was originally going to direct the comet Wirtanen. The journey has been three times closer to Earth and once around Mars to take the gravitational boost before heading 67P/Churyumov-Gesasimenko.
reassignment did not change the scientific objectives of the mission is to closely observe the comet taking multiple scientific data to see how it will be transformed as curb the Sun in its elliptical orbit, then follows the Philae to be set on the same surface of the core and perform analysis 67P/Churyumov-Gesasimenko right there while the probe is in orbit. It will be this summer.
The ship is a cube 2.8 x 2.1 x 2 meters and takes two huge solar panels 14 feet long. Are installed in the orbiter 11 scientific instruments (including three of the
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