It's been a long day here on the Rosetta Blog - and we're finally getting some much-needed help from the Rosetta Flight Control Team's mascot, Orville - who, apparently, speaks French! :-) We'll log off for the the day now - thank you for visiting the Rosetta Blog -- Daniel

 

 

Rosetta's operations team just handed us a couple of breath-taking images taken by the spacecraft's navigation camera (navcam). The camera is actually designed for navigation purposes, so they aren't to be compared with the full-colour scientific capabilities of OSIRIS - but they are amazing views!

This image was captured at 14:23 UTC (15:23 CET), when Rosetta was at a distance of approximately 236 000 km from Earth's centre. It shows a cloud-covered North America in some detail. (Click on 'Full story' for a second cool pic!) -- Daniel

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We're received a couple of emails from several colleagues around ESA and at the science teams working on Rosetta from other institutes. They've kindly sent in some of the data they've seen during the swingby campaign, and herewith we'd like to publish a couple of cool 'techie' updates.

The first came in from Anders Eriksson, the PI (principle investigator) for Rosetta's RPC-LAP at the Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala, and the second from ESA's Petteri Nieminen, working on Rosetta's SREM instrument at ESA/ESTEC, the Netherlands. Click on 'Full story' for details. -- Daniel

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Just heard from the Flight Dynamics folks here at ESOC, and SOM Andrea Accomazzo dropped by with early news: It appears that Rosetta was just slightly more than 1.1 km from the planned swing-by target! This performance, if confirmed, means that her trajectory was more accurate than predicted. The perigee passage time (= time of closest approach) was less than 0.01 seconds different from the last prediction made before the swing-by. -- Daniel

Click on images to access full-size version. For detailed captions and information, access the ESA web portal.

 

Credits: ESA ©2009 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

 

Credits: ESA ©2009 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA

 

 

 

 

Rather cool photos and video sent in by amateur radio astronomer Gérard Galve, who reports that he monitored Rosetta's signals from his backyard in Toulouse, France, this morning.

He was up and about at 02:00 with his friend, Bertrand, to catch ESA's comect chaser. They report picking up signals at 02:10... the video includes audio (the '...wheeeeeeee tone in the background') monitored at 08:01 UT (09:01 CET). Merci beaucoup, Messieurs! ... et "73!"

Access full album here: Reader submissions   

 

 

Marina, the wife of Rosetta Spacecraft Operations Manager (SOM) Andrea Accommzzo, sent him to work in the predawn darkness this morning with a wonderful "swingby quiche." It's decorated to show Rosetta at the point of closest approach, with the word 'Ciao!'. :-)

This isn't the first time she's gone out of her way to support the operations team. Thanks, Marina!

 

 

 

Armelle, member of the Rosetta operations team, just came in and told us that the Science data is being downloaded right now and it looks nominal!

--Amruta

Cool animation showing today's swingby as seen from Rosetta. The second half of the animation shows what you see if you were sitting on board Rosetta and watching Earth approach and then recede. -- Daniel

 

 

 

 

 

A quick update: Amruta and I are expecting additional images from the OSIRIS team within today. We're waiting for a ground station pass, data download, processing and emailing! -- Daniel

Mission controllers have just confirmed that ESA’s comet chaser  Rosetta has swung by Earth at 8:45 CET as planned, skimming past our planet to pick up a gravitational boost for an epic journey to rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014.

See the complete article on the Rosetta website.

 

We received several images and animations from Kristin this morning, of observations that she's been carrying out from ESA's Optical Ground Station in Tenerife, Spain as the satellite approached Earth. The animation above comprises images recorded 13 November, 03:05 to 03:25. It comprises 18 images with an exposure time of 15 s and a separation of 69 s. The field is located in the constellation of Cetus and has a size of 10 x 10 arcmin. The telescope was tracking Rosetta so that the spacecraft appears as a dot in the centre of the image while the stars appear as stripes. 

 

 

This image was captured at 03:59 CET, 13 November, with an exposure time of 2 minutes. The field is located in the constellation Cetus and spans 10 x 10 arcmin. The telescope was tracking the stars so that Rosetta appears as a stripe in the centre of the image while the stars appear as dots. Rosetta moves 3 arcminutes during the 2-minute exposure. Compare the movement with the image above, taken at 22:58 CET. The brightest star in the top left corner of the image has a magnitude of 12. This is the last image taken before Rosetta's closest approach to Earth, immediately afterwards its elevation fell below 18 deg which is the limit of the telescope.

 

 

This still image was taken at 22:58 CET on 12 November. The total exposure time was 2 minutes. The field is located in the constellation of Cetus and has a size of 10 x 10 arcmin. Rosetta appears as a dot in the centre of the image while the stars appear as stripes. The stars move for almost 1 arcminute during the exposure. The brightest star in the bottom left corner of the images has a magnitude of 15.

 

Kristin's still there tonight as well, to see if Rosetta can be detected as it recedes. But the spacecraft will be much weaker in the sky than during the approach because an observer on ground will be looking at the unilluminated side of the solar arrays. Rosetta will have risen high enough for the telescope to point toward it at 04:30 CET. Its elevation will then increase; dawn starts shortly after 07:00 CET.
 

 

This morning, you can watch a live webcast of the media briefing for Rosetta's swingby from ESA's European Space Operations Centre, Darmstadt, 08:00-09:00 CET. You can see the webcast on any of the following URLs:

ESA Livestream channel: http://www.livestream.com/eurospaceagency
ESA Operations: http://www.esa.int/ops
ESA Rosetta special: http://www.esa.int/rosetta

 

 

A picture taken just a few minutes ago in the Dedicated Control Room... Rosetta is just a few thousand km from closest approach, due at 08:45 CET! -- Daniel

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image of the Earth acquired with the OSIRIS narrow-angle camera from a distance of 633 000 km on 12 November 2009 at 13:28 CET.

The resolution is 12 km/pixel.

The image is a part of a sequence of images taken every hour through one full rotation (24 hours). The movie will be published later.

Three images with an orange, green, and blue filter were combined to create this one. The illuminated crescent is centered roughly around the South Pole (South at the bottom of the image). The outline of Antarctica is visible under the clouds that form the striking south-polar vortex. Pack ice in front of the coastline with its strong spectacular reflection is the cause for the very bright spots on the image.

(Click image or here to access full-size version in our gallery)

Image credit: ESA © 2009 MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA