The adventure will begin in January 2003, when a European
Ariane-5 rocket lifts off from Kourou in French Guiana. During
a circuitous eight-year trek through the Solar System, Rosetta
will cross the asteroid belt and travel into deep space, to more
than five times Earth's distance from the Sun. Its destination
will be a periodic comet known as 46P/Wirtanen.
The Rosetta Orbiter will rendezvous with Comet Wirtanen
and remain in close proximity to the icy nucleus as it plunges
towards the warmer inner reaches of the Sun's domain. At the
same time, a small Lander will be released onto the surface of
this mysterious cosmic iceberg. Two more years will pass
before the remarkable mission draws to a close in July 2013.
By then, both the spacecraft and the comet will have
returned to the inner Solar System.
The Rosetta mission will achieve many historic landmarks:
- Rosetta will be the first spacecraft to orbit a comet’s
nucleus
- it will be the first spacecraft to fly alongside a comet as
it heads towards the inner Solar System
- Rosetta will be the first spacecraft to examine from
close proximity how a frozen comet is transformed by
the warmth of the Sun
- shortly after its arrival at Comet Wirtanen, the Rosetta
Orbiter will dispatch a robotic Lander for the first
controlled touchdown on a comet nucleus
- the Rosetta Lander's instruments will obtain the first
images from a comet's surface and make the first insitu
analysis to find out what it is made of
- on its way to Comet Wirtanen, Rosetta will make the
first flybys of the main-belt asteroids Siwa and Otawara
- Rosetta will be the first spacecraft ever to fly close
to Jupiter's orbit using solar cells as its main
power source
Scientists will be eagerly waiting to compare Rosetta's
results with previous studies by ESA's Giotto spacecraft
and by ground-based observatories. These have shown
that comets contain complex organic molecules –
compounds that are rich in carbon, hydrogen,
oxygen and nitrogen. Intriguingly, these are the
elements that make up nucleic acids and amino
acids, essential ingredients for life as we know it.
Did life on Earth begin with the help of comet
seeding? Rosetta will help us to find the answer to
this fundamental question.
