From one comet landing to another: planning Rosetta’s 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 comet recedes from the Sun, the amount of sunlight falling on Rosetta’s solar panels will drop significantly. As the power drops, it will not be possible to operate all of the scientific instruments at the same time. Ultimately, the point will be reached where Rosetta would have to be put back in hibernation, as it was for the 31 months leading up to January 2014. However, this time Rosetta will follow the comet out beyond the orbit of Jupiter on its 6.5-year journey around the Sun, further from its source of power than ever before. On top of this, the spacecraft will have been in space for over 12 years, two of them spent in the comet’s dusty environment, with degradation of the solar arrays expected to further reduce the available power. Solar conjunction By September-October 2016, Rosetta and the comet will appear very close to the Sun as seen from the Earth, making the uplinking of operational commands and the downlinking of scientific data extremely challenging. On 1 October 2016, the spacecraft will […]

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