|  | Comet chaser Rosetta will be launched on 26 February | |
ESA's Rosetta comet chaser ready for lift-off
17 February 2004
ESA PR 11-2004
Follow the Rosetta launch
from an ESA or Arianespace establishment
On 26 February at 04:36 a.m. Kourou time (07:36 a.m. GMT - 08:36 a.m.
CET), Rosetta is scheduled to be launched on board an Ariane-5 launcher
from the European Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.
Originally timed to begin about a year ago, Rosetta's journey had to be
postponed. This delay meant that the original mission's target, Comet
Wirtanen, could no longer be reached. Instead, a new target has been
selected, Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which Rosetta will encounter in
2014 after a "billiard ball" journey through the Solar System lasting more
than ten years. This will be the first mission to orbit and land on a
comet.
Media representatives in Europe can follow the launch of Rosetta and
initial orbital operations at ESA/Darmstadt (ESOC) in Germany - which
will be acting as the main European press centre - ESA/Noordwijk (ESTEC)
in the Netherlands or ESA/Frascati (ESRIN) in Italy. At each site ESA
specialists will be available for interviews. Also Arianespace at Evry
will cater for media.
Media representatives wishing to attend are asked to complete the attached
reply form and fax it to the Communication Office at the establishment of
their choice.
The ESA TV Service will provide live televised coverage of the launch and
initial orbital operations with English commentary, between 05:30 and
10:30 GMT:
Satellite :ASTRA 2 C at 19 degrees East
Transponder 57, horizontal, MPEG-2, MCPC
Frequency 10832 MHz, Symbol Rate 22000 MS/sec, FEC+5/6
Service Name: ESA
Details of the transmission schedule and the various pre-launch Video News
Releases can be found on http://television.esa.int.
For further information on Rosetta see http://www.esa.int/rosetta
For more on ESA Science missions see http://www.esa.int/science
For further information, please contact:
ESA Media Relations Division
Tel: +33(0)1.53.69.7155
Fax: +33(0)1.53.69.7690
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