Rosetta operations at the comet

• Published in: Acta astronautica Vol. 115; pp. 434 - 441
• Main Authors: Accomazzo, Andrea, Ferri, Paolo, Lodiot, Sylvain, Pellon-Bailon, Jose-Luis, Hubault, Armelle, Porta, Roberto, Urbanek, Jakub, Kay, Ritchie, Eiblmaier, Matthias, Francisco, Tiago
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.10.2015
• Subjects: Comet; Comets; Journeys; Lander; Landing; Mathematical models; Orbits; Philae; Rosetta; Rosetta mission; Solar energy; Spacecraft; Philae; Lander; Landing; Comet; Rosetta
• ISSN: 0094-5765; 1879-2030
• DOI: 10.1016/j.actaastro.2015.06.009

The International Rosetta Mission was launched on 2nd March 2004 on its 10 year journey to comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko and has reached it early August 2014; it will now orbit it for about 1.5 years down to distances of a few kilometres and has delivered the Lander Philae onto its surface. Following the exit in January 2014 from a 2.5 years hibernation period, necessary due to the large heliocentric distances reached by the solar-powered spacecraft, which prevented full operation of the on-board electrical systems, Rosetta conducted the delicate approach phase during which it slowly discovered its unexpected irregular shape. The spacecraft is now flying in close proximity of the comet and has begun its main science phase. The comet has been characterised to the level necessary to perform a proper orbit insertion and proceed with the global mapping and close observation phases. During this phase the landing site for Philae has been selected with all operations focusing on this extremely delicate and risky mission phase. The mission has been conducted according to plan and the planning and operations concepts defined have revealed to be adequate for the environment encountered during the early comet phases. The performance of the spacecraft and of the whole operations teams have been very good; all the tools and processes developed to characterise and model the environment revealed to be adequate and provided results that are fully in line with the needs. This paper describes the flight operations conducted till November 2014, the results and the performance of the mission from an operations point of view, and some of the details of the landing phase. Finally it also addresses the lessons learned that can be drawn after this initial phase of comet operations. •Extraordinary mission.•10 years interplanetary flight to reach the comet with 4 planetary swing-bys.•2.5 years full spacecraft hibernation.•First comet approach, characterisation, orbiting, and landing in the history of spaceflight.