Definition
The Rosetta mission is a Planetary Cornerstone Mission in the European Space Agency’s program Horizon 2000. It had a rendezvous in August 2014 with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko to study the chemical and physical properties of its nucleus and the development of its atmosphere as the comet approaches the Sun. Rosetta will follow the comet for about two years until its perihelion (August 2015) and beyond. Rosetta spacecraft was carrying an instrumented lander called Philae that has landed on the nucleus on November 12, 2014. On its way to the comet, Rosetta flew by asteroids 2867 Steins and 21 Lutetia.
Overview
Rosetta is the first mission whose goal was to landon a cometary nucleus and follow a comet during about 2 years. It was first conceived to explore comet 46P/Wirtanen, but because of a failure of an Ariane 5 rocket in December 2002, the mission was postponed and a new target had to be chosen: 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta was finally launched by an Ariane 5 G+...
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References and Further Reading
Altwegg K et al (2014) 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a Jupiter family comet with a high D/H ratio. Science. doi:10.1126/science.1261952. Published online 10 December 2014
Balsiger H et al (2007) Rosina – Rosetta orbiter spectrometer for ion and neutral analysis. Space Sci Rev 128(1–4):745–801
Coradini A et al (2007) Virtis: an imaging spectrometer for the Rosetta mission. Space Sci Rev 128(1–4):529–559
Glassmeier K-H et al (2007) The ROSETTA mission: flying towards the origin of the Solar System. Space Sci Rev 128(1–4):1–21
Goesmann F et al (2007) Cosac, the cometary sampling and composition experiment on Philae. Space Sci Rev 128(1–4):257–280
Kissel J et al (2007) COSIMA, a high resolution time of flight spectrometer for secondary ion mass spectroscopy of cometary dust particles. Space Sci Rev 128(1–4):823–867
Mumma MJ, Charnley SB (2011) The chemical composition of comets–emerging taxonomies and natal heritage. Annu Rev Astron Astrophys 49:471–524
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Cottin, H. (2015). Rosetta Spacecraft. In: Gargaud, M., et al. Encyclopedia of Astrobiology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44185-5_1387
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-44185-5_1387
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