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(meteorobs) ESA Science News: "Rosetta Reunion As Lander Is Delivered And Mated"
------- Forwarded Message
From: Ron Baalke <baalke@zagami.jpl.nasadot gov>
Subject: Rosetta Reunion As Lander Is Delivered And Mated
To: astro-l@uwwvax.uwwdot edu (Astronomy List)
Date: Thu, 6 Dec 2001 08:58:52 -0800 (PST)
ESA Science News
http://sci.esa.int
06 Dec 2001
Rosetta reunion as Lander is delivered and mated
The Rosetta Lander, designed to be the first spacecraft in the history
of space exploration to make a soft-landing on the icy nucleus of a
comet, has now joined its 'mother craft' at the European Space Research
and Technology Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands.
Over the coming months, the two elements of the most ambitious mission
ever to explore a comet will undergo a complex test programme to prepare
them for their eight-year trek to the depths of the Solar System.
"The Lander successfully completed a comprehensive series of
environmental tests in Germany," said Philippe Kletzkine, ESA manager
for the Rosetta Lander. "These included vibration tests, thermal-vacuum
tests and magnetic tests, as well as measurements of its electromagnetic
characteristics, mass and centre of gravity."
"In other words, the respective engineering specialists weighed it,
checked its balance when spinning, and measured how magnetic it is,"
he explained. "Then they simulated the hazardous conditions associated
with the launch and the trek through space by shaking it and changing
its temperature by more than 100 degrees Celsius in an airless chamber."
After the prolonged programme of testing at the premises of IABG in
Munich, the Rosetta Lander was transported inside an air conditioned
container to the ESA test facilities in Noordwijk, the Netherlands.
No time was wasted upon arrival, as the engineers worked long shifts
over the weekend to unload, check out and attach the 96 kg Lander to
its eject mechanism and Lander interface. By 3 December, the Lander
was ready to be mated to its much larger 'mother craft'.
Over the next few weeks, the combined spacecraft will undergo a major
'integrated systems' test to ensure that the Orbiter control computers
can communicate with the attached Lander and that the Lander responds
in the correct way. This will be followed in late January with a
four-week thermal-vacuum test, when the spacecraft will be alternately
baked and frozen to check its ability to survive the extreme
temperatures they will experience during the long journey to Comet
Wirtanen.
ESA's comet chasing Rosetta spacecraft comprises an Orbiter and a
Lander. The Orbiter is scheduled to arrive at Comet Wirtanen and
brake into orbit around its solid nucleus in the summer of 2011. Once
the surface of the comet's nucleus has been surveyed in unprecedented
detail and a suitable landing site has been selected, the Lander will
separate from the Orbiter and slowly descend a few kilometres to the
pristine surface.
Over a period of several weeks, the suite of nine instruments will
send back close-up pictures, dr