From one comet #Landing to another: planning #Rosetta’s grand finale
▻http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/11/12/from-one-comet-landing-to-another-planning-rosettas-grand-finale
As announced in June along with confirmation of the mission’s extension, #rosetta teams are planning to end the operational phase of the mission in a controlled impact of the orbiter on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at the end of September 2016. While the specific details of the trajectories and impact site are still under discussion, ESA’s Rosetta Spacecraft #Operations Manager Sylvain Lodiot, Project Scientist Matt Taylor, and mission manager Patrick Martin, share some background information on the planning of this dramatic mission finale. Why will the mission come to an end? Following perihelion in August, Comet 67P/C-G and Rosetta are now moving away from the Sun and back out towards the orbit of Jupiter. This creates a number of challenges: Reduced solar power As the (...)
#Instruments ##CometLanding #manoeuvre #timeline #trajectory