One Response to “New Target for Rosetta”

1. admin says:

   July 7 at 4:32 am

   Paolo Ulivi <paolo.ul…@tiscali.it> wrote:
   > Unfortunately I only have the free partial access to the journal, so I
   > cannot provide any more detail. Is there anyone with a full address
   > who can shed more light on this story?

   Here goes:

   Star-Crossed Comet Chaser Eyes New Target
   by Govert Schilling*

   UTRECHT, THE NETHERLANDS–It may be grounded, but at least Rosetta,
   Europe’s groundbreaking mission to chase and land on a comet, now has
   its sights set on a new target: comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Originally
   due for a launch in January to comet Wirtanen, the $1 billion Rosetta
   was put on ice due to concerns over the Ariane 5 launcher (Science, 24
   January, p. 486). According to project scientist Gerhard Schwehm of the
   European Space Technology Centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands, the
   Rosetta team has now thrown its weight behind the new rendezvous, with a
   launch date in February 2004.

   Rosetta’s new itinerary still must be approved by the European Space
   Agency’s Science Programme Committee, which will meet in mid-May. But
   Schwehm says flying to Churyumov-Gerasimenko is the safest option. One
   alternative was to stick with Wirtanen but launch a year later in
   January 2004 with the more powerful Russian Proton rocket. But the team
   decided there was not enough time to adapt the Proton, says Schwehm. All
   Ariane 5 launchers were grounded after the failure of an upgraded
   version last December, but the regular Ariane 5 is expected to fly again
   later this year.

   The new target, discovered in 1969 by two Ukrainian astronomers, orbits
   the sun every 6.6 years and last visited the inner solar system in
   August 2002. Like Wirtanen, it’s a small, not particularly active comet,
   making it suitable for a soft landing. Rosetta will catch up to the
   comet in late 2014 and later will release a small lander to touch down
   on the icy surface. Churyumov-Gerasimenko is larger than Wirtanen and
   thus has a stronger gravitational pull. "In the next few weeks, we will
   study the landing scenario in detail," Schwehm says.