[meteorite-list] Rosetta Update - March 24, 2004

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:32:53 2004
Message-ID: <200403251739.JAA00557_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object/index.cfm?fobjectid=34881

Rosetta
Spacecraft Commissioning Continues
European Space Agency
March 24, 2004

Report for week 12 to 19 March

Since the last status report there have been two major areas of
commissioning activity: for the first five days the focus was on
the lander; followed later by the various plasma detection
packages on the orbiter.

The Lander activities were all performed successfully and
completed well within the scheduled time. This enabled the early
execution of a number of activities initially planned for a later
slot. Only one activity, the Lander MSS check, was postponed to
allow re-definition of the procedure in view of the fact that the
launch locks were released earlier than planned (on mission day 1).

In the last two days the Rosetta Plasma Consortium (RPC)
commissioning activities started. The first day saw the successful
activation and check out of all RPC instruments using the main
power supply and data processing unit. During a repeat test using
the redundant chain a sudden interruption in telemetry and drop in
current consumption was detected. Investigations suggest a failure
in the redundant power supply.

On the last day of the reporting period the spacecraft booms
carrying the RPC MIP (Mutual Impedance Probe) and LAP (Langmuir
Probe) instruments were successfully deployed using the primary
systems. The instruments were active during the deployment and
confirmed the successful operation via readings in their science
telemetry. In order for further analysis to take place on the
failure in the redundant power supply all remaining RPC activities
have been postponed to a later date.

The table below shows a chronology of the main activities in the
reporting period:

      Mission Day Date DOY Main Activity

      11 12/13.03.04 72/73 Lander Commissioning Pass 1

      12 13/14.03.04 73/74 Lander Commissioning Pass 2

      13 14/15.03.04 74/75 Lander Commissioning Pass 3

      14 15/16.03.04 75/76 Lander Commissioning Pass 4

      15 16/17.03.04 76/77 Lander Commissioning Pass 5

      16 17/18.03.04 77/78 RPC Commissioning Pass 1

      17 18/19.03.04 78/79 RPC Commissioning Pass 2 and
                                     boom deployment

At the end of the last New Norcia pass in the reporting period
(DOY 079, 09:00) Rosetta was at 5.5 million km from the Earth.
The return signal travel time was 36.8 seconds.
Future Activities

Payload commissioning will continue throughout March, April and May.
During the coming week commissioning will commence on ROSINA,
ALICE and VIRTIS.
Received on Thu 25 Mar 2004 12:39:10 PM PST


Help support this free mailing list:



StumbleUpon
del.icio.us
reddit
Yahoo MyWeb