Follow Rosetta’s final Earth boost


ESA's Rosetta Flight Control Team during Steins encounter 2008
 
Rosetta Flight Control Team in action
 
 
4 November 2009
 
ESA’s comet chaser Rosetta will swing by Earth for the last time on 13 November to pick up energy and begin the final leg of its 10-year journey to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ESA’s European Space Operations Centre will host a media briefing on that day.
 
This will be the third Earth swingby, the last of Rosetta’s four planetary gravity assists. Closest approach to Earth is expected at 08:45 CET (07:45 UT). The swingby will provide exactly the boost Rosetta needs to continue into the outer Solar System. The spacecraft is scheduled for a close encounter with asteroid 21 Lutetia in July next year, before it goes into hibernation early in 2011, only to wake up in early 2014 for approach to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
  
 
 As the most primitive objects in the Solar System, the chemical composition of comets has not changed much since their formation. They preserve a record of the early Solar System.
 
 
 When it reaches 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014, Rosetta will be the first mission to orbit and deploy a lander on a comet. It will help to reconstruct the history of our neighbourhood in space.

The spacecraft is operated from ESOC, ESA’s European Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, Germany.
  
 
 RSVP requested
  
Media interested in following Rosetta’s last Earth swingby may participate in a press briefing organised at ESOC on 13 November.

  • Time: 8:15 – 9:15 CET

  • Location: ESA ESOC, Robert Bosch Strasse 5, Darmstadt, Germany

    • RSVP via telephone or email (contact details below) before 11 November 2009.
      
     
     Those unable to attend can follow near-realtime updates on:

    The Rosetta blog (esa.int/blog)
    The ESA Rosetta website (esa.int/rosetta)
    The ESA Spacecraft Operations website (esa.int/ops)

    A timeline of critical events is available on the Rosetta website.
      
     
     For more information:
      
    Jocelyne Landeau-Constantin
    Corporate Communication Office ESA/ESOC
    Robert-Bosch-Strasse 5
    D-64293 Darmstadt
    Germany

    Tel: +49 6151 90 25 46
    Fax: +49 6151 902 961
    Email: Andreas.Schepers @ esa.int
     
     
     •  Rosetta Blog (http://webservices.esa.int/blog/blog/5/)
     •  ESA's comet chaser (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/index.html)
     •  Space Operations & Situational Awareness (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Operations/index.html)
     •  ESOC (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/ESOC/index.html)

    Rosetta on YouTube

     •  ESA's comet chaser revisits Earth (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V6CB-OEXOA &feature=PlayList &p=2DDC6FBEA74D065D &index=3)

    Related articles

     •  Rosetta lined up nicely for Earth approach (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/SEMZJVZRA0G_0.html)
     •  Last visit home for ESA’s comet chaser (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/SEMJNZYRA0G_0.html)
     •  Rosetta Blog live for final Earth swingby (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/SEMDWZXRA0G_0.html)
     •  Steins: A diamond in the sky (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/SEMNMYO4KKF_0.html)
     •  Rosetta Steins fly-by confirmed (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/SEMUOWO4KKF_0.html)
     •  (2867) Steins getting closer (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/SEMQCVO4KKF_0.html)

    For the media

     •  Media Press Kit (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMJ09374OD_1_spk.html)
     •  Rosetta factsheet (pdf) (http://esamultimedia.esa.int/docs/rosetta/FactsheetRosetta.pdf)

    In depth

     •  Rosetta in depth (http://sci.esa.int/rosetta)