Rosetta successfully revived
21 Jan 2014 by Evoluted New Media
Comet-chaser Rosetta has successfully been revived from its 31 month slumber; its pre-programmed alarm clock went off early on 20th January and it signalled Earth to let scientists know it was awake.
The signal arrived at 18.18 GMT, during the first window of opportunity to communicate with Earth. The @ESA_Rosetta twitter account also tweeted: “Hello, World!”
“Rosetta is a big mission for the UK, with much of the spacecraft built and designed in the country and UK scientists involved in 10 of the mission’s instruments,” said Dr Chris Castelli, Acting Director of Technology, Science and Exploration at the UK Space Agency.
“We’re all relieved that Rosetta didn’t miss its alarm call and will soon begin its primary mission of unlicking the secrets of a comet.”
After an instrument check, Rosetta will soon be ready to hunt down Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko where it will become the first mission to rendezvous and attempt to land on the comet’s surface, and the first to follow a comet as it swings around the Sun.
“Rosetta is an extremely exciting mission which will give us the first ever chance to operate a satellite within the evolving plasma environment of a comet,” said Christopher Carr from Imperial College London. “We’re really looking forward to seeing how the solar winds interact with the gas expelled by the comet, and we’ll be able to test our predictions about the formation and composition of the comet’s ionosphere.”
Rosetta will track the evolution of the comet on a daily basis for over a year, giving scientists a unique insight into the comet’s behaviour, said Matt Taylor, ESA’s Rosetta project scientist.
It is expected to take its first images of the comet in May, when about 2m km from its target, before executing a major manoeuvre to line it up for its critical meeting. Rosetta will attempt to land a probe on the comet in November, and follow the comet as it passes around the Sun, with the mission due to end at the end of 2015.
“We will face many challenges this year as we explore the unknown territory of comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko and I’m sure there will be plenty of surprises,” said Taylor. “But today we are just extremely happy to be back on speaking terms with our spacecraft.”
