[meteorite-list] Rosetta Comet Mission Finds a Target

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:25:45 2004
Message-ID: <200305291630.JAA22695_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.space.com/astronotes/astronotes.html

Rosetta Comet Mission Finds a Target
space.com
May 29, 2003

The European Space Agency's (ESA) delayed Rosetta
mission to a comet is back on track.

During its meeting on May 13-14, ESA's Science
Program Committee decided Rosetta should be sent to
Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Rosetta was originally designed as a long haul mission to
encounter Comet Wirtanen in 2011.

But a December 11, 2002 failure of a souped-up version
of the Ariane 5 launcher -- using hardware common to a
standard-version Ariane 5 that would shove Rosetta
into space -- caused a major review of the booster.

A special review board was established to advise on the
launch of Rosetta, given the Ariane 5 booster problems.
That board's findings prompted the rocket's operator,
Arianespace, and ESA to postpone Rosetta's departure.
The result: Rosetta's launch was left in limbo.

ESA has now come to grips with the Rosetta mission. The
decision has been made to send the comet probe spaceward
to reconnoiter Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Blastoff
aboard an Ariane 4 G-plus rocket is now set for
February 2004 from Kourou, French Guiana.

Rendezvous with the new target comet is expected in
November 2014.
Received on Thu 29 May 2003 12:30:17 PM PDT