One dark and scary night …… a celestial body which is moving in elliptical trajectory in space ……a machine is oscillating around the above celestial body …..one portion is segrageted from the above oscillating machine and thereafter, the segregated part falls below with a big thud …….. this is not the plot of a sci fi flick….t his is neither Armeggadon nor Deep Impact , obvious this is also not the story of Geronimo Stiltonix .We are in 2014 in earth and we talk about a fully dedicated, adventurous ,realistic mission , Rosetta. SuThe adventure began 2 March 2004 , when a European Ariane 5 rocket lifted off from Kourou in French Guiana.n After launch, the Rosetta mission will be controlled from a single control centre, the Rosetta Mission Operations Centre (RMOC) at ESOC, in Darmstadt, Germany, in conjunction with the ESA deep space ground station at New Norcia. Thanks and kudos to European Space Agency.
With 4.1×4.5 km (2.5×2.8 mi) dimension ,Its destination will be a periodic comet known as Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. A
Rosetta’s original target was comet 46P/Wirtanen, but after postponement of the initial launch a new target was set-Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta’s deep space odyssey will comprise lengthy periods of inactivity, punctuated by relatively short spells of intense activity – the encounters with Mars, Earth and asteroids. For much of the outward journey, the spacecraft will be placed in ‘hibernation’ in order to limit consumption of power and fuel, and to minimise operating costs.
Hold your breathe, almost all of the electrical systems are switched off, with the exception of the radio receivers, command decoders and power supply. , During a circuitous ten-year trek across the Solar System, Rosetta will cross the asteroid belt and travel into deep space, more than five times Earth’s distance from the Sun. ndInstead, Rosetta will bounce around the inner Solar System like a ‘cosmic billiard ball’, circling the Sun almost four times during its ten-year trek to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. deAlong this roundabout route, Rosetta will enter the asteroid belt twice and gain velocity from gravitational ‘kicks’ provided by close fly-bys of Mars (2007) and Earth (2005, 2007 and 2009).ploy
You nead real patience , since launch in 2004, ESA’s Rosetta mission has been chasing down comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The comet is a regular visitor to the inner Solar System, orbiting the Sun once every 6.5 years between the orbits of Jupiter and Earth.
Rosetta consists of an orbiter, carrying 11 science experiments, and a lander, called ‘Philae’, carrying 10 additional instruments, for the most detailed study of a comet ever attempted.
Believe it or not ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft delivered its ‘ Philae’ lander to the surface of the comet for a dramatic touchdown.
This was the grand success with a mixture of relief and trumph that Philae ,had landed on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. But, as the minutes and hours passed , it became clear that things had not gone entirely to plan . Philae was down in the wrong place and suffering from a serious shortage of sunshine to boot . Landing on a comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is tricky . Its gravity is feeble. So anything lifting off from its surface at a speed greater than one meter a second will zoom away into space. When Philae hit the surface , its fiexible legs absorbed some of the impact energy-but not enough to prevent a bounce. So when Philae came to rest it was far from its planned landing site. Even it ended up lying at an awkward angle, in the shadow of a cliff. Its solar panels were illuminated for just an hour and a half out of every 12-hour cometry day. So it had unsufficient sunlight to recharge its batteries. For two days eight of its ten instruments collected data. Then , with the collected data safely transmitted to Earth and the batteries deep in red, on 15th November , contact was lost. But not perhaps , for ever. Rosetta continues to orbit the comet , gathering data of its own.
“Science will now take front seat in this great mission. It’s why we are there in the first place!” says Matt Taylor, Rosetta Project Scientist.
The mission’s scientific programme following the deployment of Philae is to a large extent determined by the activity of the comet, which will increase as 67P/C-G approaches perihelion – the position on its orbit that is closest to the Sun – in August 2015.
The Rosetta orbiter will track the comet through perihelion (August 2015), examining its behaviour before, during and after. The main mission phase has begun in earnest and will continue until December 2015.
Mind you ……. Its not a simple stone, which means and gives meaning to the word – Rosetta, it’s a vision , version,and dream of humankind. Whether we the human race succeed or not we always try to get into our dreams . Hope to get success, get into the galaxy.
