How to orbit a comet

What happens after Rosetta arrives at comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko? This animation describes the key dates for the next set of manoeuvres that will bring Rosetta even closer to the comet between August and October.

After arriving on 6 August, Rosetta will follow a set of two, three-legged triangular trajectories that require a small thruster burn at each apex. The legs are about 100 km long and it will take Rosetta between three and four days to complete each one.

The first triangle is conducted at a distance of about 100 km from the comet, the second at around 50 km. Then Rosetta will switch to a ‘global mapping phase’ at an altitude of about 30 km. During this period, it will make a ‘night excursion’, whereby the ground track of the spacecraft will be on the night-side of the comet (with the spacecraft still fully illuminated the Sun).

In October Rosetta will transfer to a close mapping phase to observe the comet from a distance of 10 km. The spacecraft will move even closer to dispatch lander Philae to the surface in November.

In this animation the comet is an artist’s impression and is not to scale with the spacecraft. The comet rotation is not representative (67P rotates once per 12.4 hours). Dates may be subject to change.

Credits: ESA

[EuropeanSpaceAgency]

How do you orbit a comet? Our latest video explaining the activities that will bring Rosetta even closer to comet 67P between August and October. 


#rosettaarewethereyet   #comet   #67pchuryumovgerasimenko  

[ryancole]

wow what a complex bunch of maneuvers! Respect to you orbital engineers that figured that out!

[cruxader]

The mathematics & physics behind this must be insane.

[LightYears]

That's incredible!! Congratulations - and thank you - for your achievements!

[RandomTheories]

I like that almost everyone here is playing Kerbal Space Program :D
Do you play it as well ESA? :)
(i know that you have a bit bigger toys than we do, but still...)

[Hermentotip]

"The Goo feels right at home here" :P

[macschomo]

Tolle Arbeit. Ich freu mich auf die Bilder und Ergebnisse...

[mariadaluzmoutinho]

Que grande aventura ...desde as linhas, outras formas, circunferências até que a aterragem se faça ...tudo meticuloso!! Foi um momento para os anais da posteridade!!

[AndrewChason]

Wish this had someone smarter than I doing a voice-over so I could understand WHY they want to zip around like a bee before closing making the orbit tighter. I can only think in KSP and not very well.

[Gehr]

did you test that in kerbal space program? :D

[jiberish]

I am interested in what difficulties may arise from the uneven distribution of mass. From what I understand, the mass distribution was not fully known until long after the probe was launched. What changes (if any) are having to be made?

[RobertSeattle]

I think someone got an "A" in orbital mechanics!

[UndergroundHouseLondon]

Each one of those manouvers is going to require burn/thrust right? Hope it all continues to go well. Hats off :)

[Gaavcio]

Interesting thought came to me while watching this video...Imagine a scenario where Rosetta's gravitational pull on the comet causes a very slight change in its orbit around the sun, leading eventually (in a distant future) to a collision course with the Earth. Wouldn't that be a tribute to human "ingenuity"?

[nealmcb]

Great video - thanks!
Can we get details on the orbit, or actually on the path it has taken so far in orbit, and where it is planned to go during the Philae lander science operations?  I've looked on the site, and don't see that sort of detail.  Adding an orbit in a form that works with something like kerbal space program, and/or points of significant events that would work with the 3d modeling tools (like the .obj or .wrl 3D mesh files you've released for the comet) would be great - then we could try to reproduce the views you've gotten with the pictures.

[RubensBrandao]

I can't wait to do that on Kerbal Space Program!

[NeonsStyleHD]

WOW that's amazing.. how the f*** did you guys work that out. lol... Amazing set of moves.

[nickgirard]

I assume that if one rotates counter to the rotation of the comet, the idea is one will find that the gravitational forces form an average force over time and shouldn't pull the probe toward an irregular large part of the mass for too long, while orbiting the smaller side would counteract the irregularity. With all of the previous maneuvers used it would seem you have enough thrust capability to make an easy escape maneuver. What's the escape velocity, a couple meters per second?

[Deejeezy]

Why not just arrive and orbit? What's with all the initial turns and maneuvers? I'm not saying it's unnecessary, but it seems that way. Could someone explain this to me so that I can fully understand what's going on here?

[sioplar]

Will you really keep the solar panels oriented tangential to the trajectory?