Rosetta Lander - Ready For Launch
Abstract
The Rosetta Lander is part of the ESA cornerstone mission SRosettaT to comet & cedil;P/Wirtanen and has been provided by an international consortium. It will be ejected from the main spacecraft at a distance of about 3 AU from the sun, descend to the comets surface and investigate the nucleus with a complement of ten scientific instru- ments. The Flight model of the Lander has been delivered to ESA in December 2001, and is currently undergoing the environmental and functional test sequences together with the Rosetta Orbiter. Launch is planned for January 2003 with an ArianeV rocket from Kourou. After a cruise phase of about 9 years and near comet investigation by the orbiter, landing is foreseen for late 2012. The Lander will be operated (via ESOC) by the Lander Control Centre (LCC) at DLR and the Science Operations and Navigation Centre (SONC) at CNES.
- Publication:
-
EGS General Assembly Conference Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- 2002
- Bibcode:
- 2002EGSGA..27.3151U