Science & Technology: Summary: "Summary
The International Rosetta Mission was approved in November 1993 by ESA's Science Programme Committee as the Planetary Cornerstone Mission in ESA's long-term space science programme. The original mission goal was to rendezvous with comet 46P/Wirtanen. After its launch postponement in January 2003, Rosetta will now aim at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. On its 10 year journey to the comet, the spacecraft will pass close to at least one asteroid.
Rosetta operations will be carried out from ESA's Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt. Orbit determination for all mission phases will also be performed by ESOC.
Rosetta was sucessfully launched on 2 March 2004 by an Ariane-5 G+ from Kourou, French Guiana. To gain enough orbital energy to reach its target, one Mars and three Earth gravity assists will be required. The long mission duration has required the introduction of extended hibernation periods.
The mission falls into several distinct phases:
EventNominal date
Launch March 2004
First Earth gravity assistMarch 2005
Mars gravity assistMarch 2007
Second Earth gravity assistNovember 2007
Third Earth gravity assistNovember 2009
Enter hibernationJuly 2011
Exit hibernationJanuary 2014
Rendezvous manoeuvreMay 2014
Global MappingAugust 2014
Lander DeliveryNovember 2014
Perihelion PassageAugust 2015
End of MissionDecember 2015


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Last Update: 02 Mar 2004 "