{"id":39663,"date":"2014-01-20T19:43:04","date_gmt":"2014-01-20T11:43:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/esas-rosetta-spacecraft-stirred-from-its-long-hibernation\/"},"modified":"2014-01-20T19:43:04","modified_gmt":"2014-01-20T11:43:04","slug":"esas-rosetta-spacecraft-stirred-from-its-long-hibernation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/esas-rosetta-spacecraft-stirred-from-its-long-hibernation\/","title":{"rendered":"ESA\u2019s Rosetta spacecraft stirred from its long hibernation"},"content":{"rendered":"

ESA\u2019s Rosetta spacecraft has awoken from its 957 days in slumber on Monday, ahead of its mission to rendezvous with the Churyumov\u2013Gerasimenko comet in August. The spacecraft awakening was confirmed by controllers at ESA\u2019s Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany.<\/p>\n

Rosetta:<\/p>\n

The spacecraft was launched from Europe\u2019s Spaceport in Kourou on March 2, 2004 on an Ariane 5G rocket.<\/p>\n

Its journey has seen it travel to a distance of 800 million kilometres (500 million miles) from the Sun. It has made an orbit of Jupiter during its journey, which has also involved passing by Earth three times and Mars once, while also flying past two asteroids.<\/p>\n

\"Z3\"It is now closing in on its destination, Comet 67P\/Churyumov\u2013Gerasimenko, as it moves farther into the inner Solar System.<\/p>\n

Rosetta is the first mission designed to orbit and land on a comet. It consists of an orbiter, carrying 11 science experiments, and a lander, called \u2018Philae\u2019, carrying 10 additional instruments, for the most detailed study of a comet ever attempted.<\/p>\n

The mission had to be refined even before it had even launched, with a delay caused by the failure of the Ariane 5 ECA\u2019s debut launch in December, 2002.<\/p>\n

As a result, Rosetta switched targets, from an encounter with Comet 46P\/Wirtanen \u2013 that had been planned for 2011 \u2013 to the 67P\/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet.<\/p>\n

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\"Z4\"Rosetta greeted two asteroids during the first part of its mission, the first in August 2008, when the spacecraft passed by (2867) Steins, a rare E-type asteroid. The second occurred two years later, this time with (21) Lutetia, a large asteroid, about 10 times bigger than Steins.<\/p>\n

In June of 2011, Rosetta was switched to its hibernation mode, protecting its vital payloads from the coldness of deep space.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s key event was initiated by a pre-set timer tasked with waking up the spacecraft. ESA enjoyed some fun on social media for this event, calling on people to participate in waking up Rosetta, as much as it was the responsibility of the spacecraft\u2019s \u201calarm clock\u201d timer to provide the actual awakening.<\/p>\n

\"Z10\"The spacecraft\u2019s internal alarm clock buzzed at 10:00 GMT on Monday, although confirmation all had gone to plan came via the first signal from the spacecraft reaching Earth at around 18:17 GMT.<\/p>\n

Deep space tracking dishes were tasked with listening out for the signal, starting with NASA\u2019s \u2018big ears\u2019 \u2013 the 70 m-diameter station at Goldstone, California, followed by, as the Earth rotates, the Canberra station in eastern Australia.<\/p>\n

ESA\u2019s New Norcia 35 m antenna, in Western Australia, is next in line to await the signal\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n

Immediately after the spacecraft has been awoken, its startrackers began to warm up, a task that is expected to be complete within six hours.<\/p>\n

\"Z5\"Once the spacecraft had \u201crubbed its eyes\u201d after its long sleep, its thrusters will have fire to stop the slow rotation. This involves a slight adjustment to Rosetta\u2019s orientation to ensure that the solar arrays are still facing directly towards the Sun, before the startrackers are switched on to determine the spacecraft\u2019s attitude.<\/p>\n

Once that has been established, Rosetta made a turn directly towards Earth, before switching on its transmitter and pointing its high-gain antenna to send the signal to announce that it is awake.<\/p>\n

With confirmation Rosetta is awake and well, the focus now switches to the upcoming rendezvous that will mark several space firsts.<\/p>\n

\"Z7\"Once at its target, Rosetta will be the first to orbit the comet and to land the Philae probe on the nucleus \u2013 to a site in the southern hemisphere of comet 67P\/Churyumov-Gerasimenko \u2013 making it one of the most complex and ambitious missions ever undertaken.<\/p>\n

\u201cChuryumov-Gerasimenko is a time capsule holding material from the birth of the Solar System,\u201d said ESA\u2019s Jeremie Lasue. \u201cThe nucleus\u2019s southern hemisphere has been heavily eroded, so Philae will not have to drill down far to find those pristine samples.<\/p>\n

See Also<\/h4>\n