[meteorite-list] Raise a stein to Rosetta

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 05 Sep 2008 19:53:10 -0400
Message-ID: <thh3c45u2bfvj0a1756couqjburhiithcv_at_4ax.com>

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5gYTWTtXEILaiJIO-61MYqWb6Z6igD930RH7G1

ESA spacecraft completes flyby of Steins asteroid

By KATRIN SCHIEFER and GEORGE FREY ? 1 hour ago

DARMSTADT, Germany (AP) ? The Rosetta deep space probe successfully passed close
to an asteroid 250 million miles from Earth, the European Space Agency said
Friday night.

In a mission that may bring man closer to solving the mystery of the solar
system's birth, the craft completed its flyby of the Steins asteroid, also known
as Asteroid 2867 ? now in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and
Jupiter ? at around 3:15 p.m. EDT.

As planned, the spacecraft's signal was lost for about 90 minutes as engineers
turned it away from the sun and because the craft was moving too fast for its
antennas to transmit.

The resumption of the craft's signal transmission was greeted with cheers from
ESA engineers and technicians.

"We're extremely happy that it worked," mission manager Gerhard Schwehm said,
sipping a glass of champagne after the announcement from the control room. "It's
a big relief. People can relax a bit now and everything seems fine."

Schwehm said the agency would work to get images and other data collected by the
probe processed as soon as possible. He said the first images should be released
to the public Saturday.

"The operation went very well," Paolo Ferri, the head of the solar and planetary
missions division and Rosetta flight operations director, said in a short speech
after the announcement.

"The spacecraft is in exactly the condition we expected, which is good. All
indications are that everything was super successful."

The timing of the flyby meant the asteroid was illuminated by the sun, making it
likely the transmitted images will be clear and sharp for scientists working on
the origins of the solar system.

"Dead rocks can say a lot," Schwehm said.

Astronomers have had to work with limited data from previous passes of
asteroids, such as when ESA's Giotto probe swept by Halley's Comet in 1986,
photographing long canyons, broad craters and 3,000-foot hills.

Steins was Rosetta's first scientific target as flies in the asteroid belt
between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter en route to its main destination, the
comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which is scheduled for 2014. The probe was
launched in March 2004.

The European Space Agency is supported by 17 countries, including Germany,
France, Ireland and the Netherlands. It cooperates with NASA, the European
Union, European national space agencies and international partners.
On the Net:

    * European Space Agency: http://www.esa.int
Received on Fri 05 Sep 2008 07:53:10 PM PDT


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