Rosetta: The Remarkable Story Of Europe's Comet Explorer (springer Praxis Books)

In 2014, Rosetta became the first mission to orbit a comet and to deploy a lander onto its surface. This is the story of ESA’s pioneering comet explorer, following the mission from its initial inception to its historic touchdown. Read along as the Rosetta orbiter and its lander, Philae, evolve over the years, overcoming early mission hurdles before embarking on their one-way, decade-long voyage to a comet. See how the saga then culminates with Rosetta and Philae at last unveiling their icy target and achieving an unprecedented touchdown on its surface. Award-winning space writer Peter Bond takes us behind the scenes of this historic endeavor, sharing insights from the international team of scientists and engineers who made the mission possible, describing the remarkable technology that they created, and delving into the treasure trove of scientific discoveries that followed. Recounting in vivid detail the inner workings of Rosetta, this book is a celebration of the mission that has left a lasting impact on planetary science and space exploration. Contents 6 Foreword 11 Acknowledgments 13 Preface 15 1: Comets and Asteroids 16 1.1 COSMIC DEBRIS 17 1.2 LONG-HAIRED STARS 21 1.3 HALLEY AND PERIODIC COMETS 23 1.4 DIRTY SNOWBALLS? 25 1.5 TRANSIENT TAILS 28 1.6 BREAKING UP IS EASY TO DO 32 1.7 VERMIN OF THE SKIES 34 1.8 ASTEROIDS 37 1.9 METEORITES 39 1.10 THE IMPACT THREAT 40 1.11 WHY STUDY COSMIC DEBRIS? 43 REFERENCES 44 2: Beginnings 46 2.1 EARLY PLANS 46 2.2 THE FIRST COMET ENCOUNTERS 47 2.3 GIOTTO 51 REFERENCES 57 3: The Birth of Rosetta 58 3.1 DEFINING THE FUTURE 58 3.2 HORIZON 2000 59 3.3 WHY ROSETTA? 62 3.4 COMET RENDEZVOUS OR SAMPLE RETURN? 64 3.5 CRAF – COMET RENDEZVOUS AND ASTEROID FLY-BY 65 3.6 ROSETTA COMET NUCLEUS SAMPLE RETURN 68 3.7 SURFACE SAMPLING 74 3.8 CANCELLATION 76 REFERENCES 77 4: Creating A Comet Chaser 78 4.1 COMET RENDEZVOUS 78 4.2 THE BASELINE MISSION 80 4.3 SURFACE LANDERS: CHAMPOLLION AND ROLAND 81 4.4 STAGES OF DEVELOPMENT 86 4.5 AN INTERNATIONAL ENTERPRISE 87 4.6 ALL SYSTEMS GO 89 4.7 PROBLEM SOLVING 93 4.8 FINAL TESTING AT ESTEC 96 4.9 FAREWELL EUROPE, HELLO SOUTH AMERICA 99 4.10 LAUNCH PREPARATIONS 99 REFERENCES 103 5: Anatomy of a Mission 104 5.1 THE ROSETTA ORBITER 104 5.2 MISSION CONTROL 114 5.3 DOWN TO EARTH 116 5.4 STAFF TURNOVER 118 5.5 PLANETARY PROTECTION 119 5.6 ROSETTA’S SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS 119 5.7 THE ROSETTA LANDER (PHILAE) 127 5.8 ROSETTA’S DISK 138 5.9 THE ARIANE 5 LAUNCHER 138 REFERENCES 142 6: Switching Comets 144 6.1 COMET 46P/WIRTANEN 144 6.2 ASTEROID FLY-BY OPPORTUNITIES 146 6.3 A DRASTIC CHANGE OF PLAN 148 6.4 THE PROJECT MANAGER’S VIEW 149 6.5 A NEW DESTINATION 151 6.6 COMET 67P/CHURYUMOV-GERASIMENKO 153 6.7 LANDING ON A LARGER COMET 155 6.8 THE NEW FLIGHT PLAN 157 6.9 PREPARING FOR LAUNCH, ROUND 2 159 REFERENCES 170 7: The Long Trek 172 7.1 EARLY COMMISSIONING 172 7.2 INITIAL PAYLOAD TESTING 174 7.3 ASTEROID SELECTION 175 7.4 COMMISSIONING, PHASE 2 175 7.5 EARTH FLY-BY #1 178 7.6 ACTIVE CRUISE AND DEEP IMPACT 183 7.7 MARS FLY-BY 188 7.8 EARTH FLY-BY #2 193 7.9 STEINS 197 7.10 BACK TO EARTH 205 7.11 EARTH FLY-BY #3 206 7.12 BACK TO THE ASTEROID BELT 213 7.13 LUTETIA 218 7.14 DEEP SPACE HIBERNATION 227 REFERENCES 231 8: Unveiling A Cosmic Iceberg 234 8.1 THE AWAKENING 234 8.2 COMMISSIONING PROBLEMS 237 8.3 NAVIGATING TOWARDS A COMET 239 8.4 ARRIVAL! 242 8.5 GLOBAL MAPPING 244 8.6 LANDER RELEASE 246 8.7 ESCORTING A COMET 248 8.8 FLY-BY OPERATIONS 250 8.9 THE COMET COMES ALIVE 251 8.10 SWAMPED BY FALSE STARS 256 8.11 PERIHELION AND BEYOND 259 8.12 ANOTHER DRAMATIC SAFE MODE 260 8.13 THE GRAND FINALE 262 REFERENCES 270 9: Landing on a Comet 272 9.1 THE PLANNED LANDING SEQUENCE 272 9.2 SITE SELECTION 276 9.3 ‘GO OR NO GO’ 280 9.4 THE DESCENT 282 9.5 A TRIPLE BOUNCE 285 9.6 THE SEARCH FOR PHILAE 289 9.7 PHILAE CALLS HOME 292 9.8 FINDING PHILAE 294 9.9 SCIENCE FROM PHILAE 297 REFERENCES 303 10: A Scientific Bonanza 305 10.1 THE “RUBBER DUCK” 306 10.2 COMET OVERVIEW 307 10.3 COMET MAPPING 309 10.4 CHANGES UPON CHANGES 311 10.5 COMPACT AND FLUFFY DUST 312 10.6 JETS AND ERUPTIONS 314 10.7 PITS AND GOOSE BUMPS 317 10.8 COLLAPSING CLIFFS 321 10.9 BOUNCING BOULDERS 324 10.10 A CRACKING COMET 327 10.11 SMOOTH TERRAIN 330 10.12 THE CHAMELEON COMET 333 10.13 THE WATER CYCLE 334 10.14 THE MYSTERY OF EARTH’S OCEANS 337 10.15 HIDDEN ICES 338 10.16 THE CHEMICAL ZOO 341 10.17 INTERIOR 344 10.18 PARTICLE ENVIRONMENT AND MAGNETIC FIELD 345 10.19 A PLANETARY BUILDING BLOCK 348 REFERENCES 352 Appendix 1 Comet Missions Past and Future 356 International Cometary Explorer (ICE) (NASA) 356 Vega 1 and Vega 2 (USSR) 356 Sakigake and Suisei (JAXA/ISAS) 356 Giotto (ESA) 357 Deep Space 1 (NASA) 357 Stardust (NASA) 357 Comet Nucleus Tour (Contour) (NASA) 358 Deep Impact (NASA) 358 Gallery: Comparing Comets 359 The Future: ESA’s Comet Interceptor 363 Appendix 2 The Rosetta Team 367 Project Managers 367 Selected Biographies 368 Appendix 3 Fast Facts 394 Acronyms 410 About the Author 412 Index 413