Engineers at ESA's European Space Operations Centre in Germany are working to a tight deadline as ESA's comet-chasing spacecraft Rosetta swings steadily closer to a spectacular asteroid fly-by on 5 September 2008.
News Archive
- 07.24.2008
- 03.07.2008Spacecraft controllers have just awoken Rosetta from hibernation to prepare for its encounter with asteroid (2867) Steins on 5 September.
- 11.20.2007True.
- 11.16.2007As Rosetta closed in on Earth, swung by and then left on its course again, several instruments on the spacecraft were busy taking snaps. As it swung away, the OSIRIS camera also caught glimpses of the Moon.
- 11.15.2007This striking composite of Earth by night shows the illuminated crescent over Antarctica and cities of the northern hemisphere. The images were acquired with the OSIRIS Wide Angle Camera (WAC) during Rosetta's second Earth swing-by on 13 November.
- 11.14.2007ESA's Rosetta has returned extraordinary images captured 13 November 2007 as the comet-chasing spacecraft completed a critical Earth swing-by at 45,000 kilometres per hour.
- 11.14.2007This animated sequence shows Rosetta's orbit (green) from 1 July 2007 through 31 March 2008, in a top view of the inner Solar System.
- 11.14.2007Images taken right after Rosetta's second Earth swing-by are now available. The comet chaser's navigation camera (NAVCAM) took pictures of regions in the Antarctic and snapshots of Earth and the Moon.
- 11.13.2007An important milestone has just been accomplished as Rosetta successfully swung by Earth at 21:57 CET. The spacecraft will now be catapulted towards the outer Solar System with its newly-gained energy before coming back to Earth for another boost.
- 11.08.2007ESA.