Rosetta's decade of explorationBY STEPHEN CLARKSPACEFLIGHT NOW Posted: August 8, 2014
Rosetta's ten-year journey from the launch pad to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko took the spacecraft by planets and asteroids, offering a preview of the probe's capabilities and whetting the appetites of researchers waiting for the mission's scientific payoff.
Rosetta's journey from the launch pad to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko puts the mission in rare company in the number and variety of objects visited. Credit: ESA/S. Corvaja for rocket photo; ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Rosetta launched on an Ariane 5 rocket on March 2, 2004, at 0717 GMT (4:17 a.m. local time). Credit: ESA/CNES/Arianespace
Rosetta's OSIRIS camera caught a glimpse of the moon over the limb of the Earth over the Pacific Ocean during the mission's gravity assist flyby in March 2005. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Rosetta's Philae lander took this image four minutes before closest approach to Mars during its February 2007 flyby. It captures one of Rosetta's 14-meter long solar wings, set against the northern hemisphere of Mars, where details in the Mawrth Vallis region can be seen. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA
Rosetta's OSIRIS camera obtained this true-color image of Mars at a range of 240,000 kilometers on Feb. 24, 2007. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Asteroid Steins seen from a distance of 800 kilometers, taken by the OSIRIS imaging system from two different perspectives. The effective diameter of the asteroid is 5 kilometers, approximately as predicted. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Rosetta glimpsed the crescent Earth during its last planetary flyby on Nov. 13, 2009. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Asteroid Lutetia at closest approach on July 10, 2010. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko looms in the field-of-view of Rosetta's OSIRIS camera as the spacecraft made its final approach. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA |
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