Rosseta spacecraft on its way to meet asteroid Steins

ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft will make a historic encounter with asteroid (2867) Steins on 5 September 2008. The doors of ESA’s European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, will be open to the media as of 18:00 on 5 September to follow the fly-by events.

First images and results will be available for presentation to the media during a press conference which will be held at ESOC the following day, Saturday 6 September at 12:00 CEST.

Steins is Rosetta’s first nominal scientific target. The spacecraft will rendezvous with the asteroid in the course of its first incursion into the asteroid belt located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, while on its way to comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

The study of asteroids is extremely important as they represent a sample of Solar System material at different stages of evolution – key to understanding the origin of our own planet and of our planetary neighbourhood.

The closest approach to Steins is due to take place on 5 September at 20:58 CEST (Central European Summer Time), from a distance of 800 km, during which the spacecraft will not be communicating with Earth. First ground contact with the spacecraft and announcement of successful fly-by will take place at 22:23 CEST. The first data and images collected by Rosetta will be sent to Earth throughout the night of 5 to 6 September and will undergo preliminary processing in the morning of 6 September. The first images will be made available for broadcasters via a special satellite feed on Saturday 6 September

3. Prove thatthe study of asteroids is extremely important as they represent a sample of Solar System material at different stages of evolution – key to understanding the origin of our own planet and of our planetary neighborhood.

Boosting The Accuracy Of Rosetta's Earth Approach

The text is taken from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/10/071019102623.htm

1. Learn the following vocabulary.

The thrusters of ESA’s comet chaser

The on-board antenna

A target trajectory

To do a correction maneuver

Toprovide an excellent opportunity for science investigations

To undertake long-term exploration of a comet

Two main-belt asteroids

1. Read the texts.

On October 18 at 18:06 CEST, the thrusters of ESA’s comet chaser, Rosetta, were fired in a planned, 42-second trajectory correction maneuver designed to 'fine tune' the spacecraft's approach to Earth. Rosetta is now approaching Earth for its second planetary swing-by of 2007.

The process took place automatically since the on-board antenna was pointed away from the ground station during the slew and could not receive radio commands; signals from Rosetta were reacquired at ESA's New Norcia deep-space ground station at 20:39 CEST (18:39 UTC).

The burn took place during one of five preplanned slots which are available to mission controllers based on determination of the spacecraft's actual trajectory by flight dynamics and other experts working on the Mission Control Team at ESA's European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), Darmstadt, Germany.

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