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    ESA BR-318: Rosetta - Rendezvous with a comet

    Publication date: 22 July 2014

    Journal: ESA Brochure
    Volume: 318
    Year: 2014

    Copyright: ESA

    Rosetta is ESA's comet-chasing mission to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Launched on 2 March 2004, the spacecraft travelled for 10 years and required three gravity-assist flybys at Earth and one at Mars before homing in on its target.

    Comets are considered to be the most primitive building blocks of our cosmic neighbourhood, surviving the Solar System's chaotic 4.6 billion-year history more or less intact. Laced with ice and organic materials, comets likely helped to 'seed' Earth with water, and perhaps even the ingredients for life. By studying one of these icy treasure chests in great detail, ESA's Rosetta is set to unlock the secrets of the Solar System.

    Table of contents:

    • Rosetta: Europe's comet-chaser
    • The long trek
    • Fleeting flybys of battered worlds
    • Hot and cold
    • What do we know about comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko?
    • Rendezvous with a comet
    • Landing on a comet
    • The Rosetta orbiter
    • The Philae lander
    • Escorting a comet
    • Long-distance communications
    • An international enterprise
    • Join the adventure

    Note: a more recent Rosetta mission brochure (ESA BR-321) is available here.

    Link to Publication

    Last Update: 16 September 2015

    • Shortcut URL
    • http://sci.esa.int/jump.cfm?oid=54814
    • See Also
    • ESA BR-321: Rosetta - Living with a comet

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