[meteorite-list] Rosetta Mission In Rocket Concern

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:04 2004
Message-ID: <200401202002.MAA06372_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3414509.stm

Comet mission in rocket concern
By Helen Briggs
BBC News
January 20, 2004

A shadow hangs over the rocket that will blast next month's flagship
European comet mission into space.

British scientist André Balogh has told the BBC he fears the Rosetta
probe could miss its flight due to technical problems on the launch vehicle.

But the European Space Agency says the rocket's faults are not major and
can be sorted out before the launch date.

The £600m Rosetta mission aims to put a lander on Comet
Churyumov-Gerasimenko to study primordial ices and gases.

Year's delay

Rosetta is currently scheduled to leave Europe's Kourou spaceport, in
French Guiana, on 26 February, atop an Ariane 5 G+ rocket.

The probe should have launched a year ago but was grounded after another
Ariane 5 vehicle exploded four minutes into a flight from Kourou.

The delay that resulted from the accident investigation led to Rosetta's
original quarry, Comet Wirtanen, being abandoned and the mission re-designed.

Scientists have now selected a new target comet - a ball of ice, rock and
dust that has the full name of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

But they are worried that technical issues related to Rosetta's new launch
vehicle, raised in reviews of its flight readiness, may delay the mission yet
again.

André Balogh, professor of space physics at Imperial College London, UK,
has an instrument on Rosetta.

Booster issue

"If Rosetta misses this launch window, for whatever reason, it will be very
difficult to find another target comet for it using Ariane," he told BBC
News Online.

"Therefore people have suggested turning to the Russians and using a Proton
launcher. However, that would mean extra expense and very significant expense
but it would be the only possible future for a successful launch of Rosetta to
a comet."

The final decision on whether to launch will be made by the European Space
Agency (Esa) in consultation with the rocket's operators, Arianespace.

Professor David Southwood, head of science at Esa, said two "open technical
items" relating to "the mechanical behaviour of the system as it takes off
and the mechanical structure of the boosters" had yet to be resolved but they
were not a particular cause for concern.

"I have no indication that they won't be resolved," he said. "I will be
astonished if we don't go ahead."

Arianespace confirmed on Tuesday that the launch campaign was continuing in
Kourou.

'Cornerstone' science

"Today, the launch vehicle is undergoing its preparation in Kourou and we are
all getting ready to launch Rosetta on 26 February," said a spokesperson.

If all goes to plan, Rosetta will reach the comet in 2014 and drop a small
lander, the size of a washing machine, on to the comet's surface.

The lander will send close-up pictures of the comet's nucleus back to Earth,
and drill into the heart of the "dirty snowball" to sample its primordial
ices and gases.

"It's a cornerstone not just of our [scientific] programme but I think also
of the scientific approach to understanding the Solar System," said
Professor Southwood.
Received on Tue 20 Jan 2004 03:02:18 PM PST