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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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

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   

 

 

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.

Live cast from ESA's European Space Operations Centre. media event for Rosetta swingby starts at 08:00 CET.

 

 

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

I got a note this morning from Rosetta Spacecraft Operations Engineer Sylvain Lodiot, who in turn received an email from a teenage friend of his from France, Baptiste. Sylvain wrote:

I received an email from a friend of mine (he is teenage and really keen on all ESA stuff). He says that he followed the blog live for the trajectory correction manoeuvre held on 22 October from school! Baptiste wishes us all the best for the manoeuvre today (which has been cancelled) - and the instrument switch ON starting on 6 November.

Thanks, Baptiste, for following Rosetta's progress - and please standby tomorrow for a more detailed listing of which instruments will be switched on and their planned targets (Merci, Baptiste, pour suivre les progrès de Rosetta - et s'il vous plaît attendre jusqu'à demain pour une liste plus détaillée des instruments qui seront allumés et leurs objectifs prévus). -- Daniel

 

 

After the 86-second thruster burn on 22 October, Rosetta has lined up on a near-perfect Earth approach trajectory. Flight dynamics and mission control experts at ESOC, ESA's European Space Operations Centre, have determined that today's manoeuvre slot will not be used (click on 'Full story' for details). -- Daniel

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As I type this, the Rosetta Flight Control Team are in a training exercise that simulates a trajectory correction manoeuvre (TCM) at 6 hours before Earth closest approach on 13 November.

This slot is crucial as it would be the last time that the team had the chance to make any corrections to the spacecraft’s trajectory before it closes in on Earth for the swingby; it is not likely to be needed.

The simulation runs for most of the day, with pre- and post-briefings held before and after and focuses on the procedures that would be necessary to make use of the TCM.

The Sims Officer can throw any number of 'real' problems at the team; so far today they have had to deal with loss of a star tracker (a navigation device that helps determine where Rosetta is pointing by viewing the star field) and a faulty reaction wheel (a device that spins so as to cause Rosetta to spin or slew).

Sometimes, the Sims Officer even calls in and announces, "OK - the SOM is sick and can no longer take part," meaning that Spacecraft Operations Manager Andrea Accomazzo has to leave the rest of the team to function without his (considerable) know-how!

But it's all part of preparing for any eventuality. -- Daniel

Michael Khan is a Mission Analyst here at ESA's ESOC Establishment in Germany. He maintains a blog that we read from time to time to find out rather cool things about ESA and other missions.

He's just posted a detailed description on Rosetta's swingby geometry on his blog, 'Go for launch', so we thought we'd share the knowledge. His post is also available in German.

Up next: Kristin Wirth, Rosetta Science Operations Manager's tips for skygazers who want to catch Rosetta closing in.

--Amruta & Daniel

The first (and most important) trajectory correction manoeuvre (TCM) executed last Thursday was extremely accurate, and Rosetta is nicely lined up for the approach to Earth. After a preliminary analysis, Trevor Morley, lead Rosetta flight dynamics specialist here at ESOC, has told us that closest approach to Earth is now expected at 07:45:40.1 UTC (08:45:40.1 CET) on 13 November.

Last week's TCM burn lasted 86 seconds and provided an 8.8 cm/second change in orbital velocity - and the thruster performance was very good.

Bonus: Nice chart showing projection of Rosetta's approach trajectory included in this post.

Click on 'Full story' for more details. 

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