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    No. 142 - Flyby data downlinking

    03 August 2010 17:28

    Report for the period 11 July to 30 July 2010

    This report covers 20 days of Rosetta mission operations. Payload operations associated with the flyby of asteroid Lutetia were completed on 11 July and the last three weeks have been mainly dedicated to downlinking the large volume of science data acquired. All the data have now been downlinked. The spacecraft is now cruising towards the aphelion of its current orbit, which will be reached in October 2012. Work to reconstruct the relative trajectory of the flyby is continuing.

    During the reporting period, mission operations were conducted using the ESA New Norcia (NNO) ground station and the DSS-24 (Goldstone, 34 metres), DSS-25 (Goldstone, 34 metres) and DSS-63 (Madrid, 70 metres) NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) antennas. The New Norcia pass on 29 July and part of the pass on 30 July were released in favour of the Venus Express mission.

    Main activities during reporting period
    DoY Date Pass Activity
    192 11-Jul-2010 NNO 2328 Flyby data downlink
    193 12-Jul-2010 NNO 2329
    DSS-25 2330
    Flyby data downlink
    194 13-Jul-2010 NNO 2328
    DSS-24 2331
    Flyby data downlink
    195 14-Jul-2010 DSS-63-2332 Flyby data downlink
    196 15-Jul-2010 NNO 2332
    DSS-63 2333
    Flyby data downlink
    197 16-Jul-2010 NNO 2333
    DSS-24 3334
    Flyby data downlink
    198 17-Jul-2010 DSS-24 2335 Flyby data downlink
    199 18-Jul-2010 DSS-63 2336 Flyby data downlink
    200 19-Jul-2010 NNO 2336 Flyby data downlink
    201 20-Jul-2010 NNO 2337
    DSS-63 2338
    Flyby data downlink
    202 21-Jul-2010 NNO 2338 Flyby data downlink
    203 22-Jul-2010 NNO 2339 Flyby data downlink
    204 23-Jul-2010 NNO 2340 Flyby data downlink
    206 25-Jul-2010 DSS-63 2343 Flyby data downlink
    207 26-Jul-2010 NNO 2343 Flyby data downlink
    208 27-Jul-2010 NNO 2344 Flyby data downlink
    209 29-Jul-2010 NNO 2345 Flyby data downlink
    210 29-Jul-2010 NNO 2346 Pass cancelled in favour of Venus Express
    211 30-Jul-2010 NNO 2347
    DSS-63 2348
    Flyby data downlink

    DoY = Day of year

    At the end of the reporting period on 30 July, Rosetta was 509 million kilometres from Earth (3.4 AU); the one-way signal travel time was 28 min 18 sec (1698 sec). On 22 July, Rosetta exceeded its own previous maximum distance from Earth.

    Rosetta's distance from the Sun was 427.7 million kilometres (2.85 AU). The distance to the asteroid at closest approach was 3160 kilometres. On 12 July, Rosetta captured the record for the solar-powered spacecraft that has flown furthest from the Sun, which was previously held by Stardust. This record distance will be almost doubled at aphelion in 2012 (5.29 AU).

    Spacecraft

    Payload Status
    ALICE The instrument is currently OFF
    CONSERT The instrument is currently OFF
    COSIMA The instrument is currently OFF
    GIADA The instrument is currently OFF
    MIDAS The instrument is currently OFF
    MIRO The instrument is currently OFF
    OSIRIS The instrument is currently OFF
    ROSINA The instrument is currently OFF
    RPC The instrument is currently OFF
    RSI The USO is ON/muted since 3 February 2010 (DoY 032/2010) 
    VIRTIS The instrument is currently OFF
    Lander (Philae) The instrument is currently OFF
    SREM The instrument is ON with standard settings since 3 February 2010 (DoY 032/2010)

    Future milestones

    Pre-comet science operations are now completed and the payload complement will be activated only for a final checkout before the hibernation phase. Most of these activities will be conducted in the slot allocated for December 2010 with a few exceptions required by the mission profile.

    The spacecraft is now cruising towards more severe environmental conditions; for this reason, a number of test activities have been scheduled for the coming months - including a performance test of the solar arrays.

    In view of the upcoming critical phase of entry into deep space hibernation, further tests have been planned in order to characterise spacecraft and ground segment behaviour under realistic RF link conditions.

    ---
    Legal disclaimer
    This report is based on the ESOC mission operations report, WOR #142. Please see the copyright section of the legal disclaimer (linked from the home page http://sci.esa.int) for terms of use.


    Last Update: 05 March 2012

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