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No. 146 - End of solar conjunction

No. 146 - End of solar conjunction

Report for the period 23 October to 14 November 2010This report covers 23 days of Rosetta mission operations. During the reporting period the spacecraft has moved out of solar conjunction and is now configured in active cruise mode in preparation of the final payload checkout and the first rendezvous manoeuvre. The NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) provided additional support to the radio science investigations during this phase.

During the reporting period, mission operations were conducted using the ESA New Norcia (NNO) ground station and the DSS-24 (Goldstone, 34 metres), DSS-54 (Madrid, 34 metres) and DSS-65 (Madrid, 34 metres) NASA Deep Space Network (DSN) antennas.

Main activities during reporting period

DoY Date Pass Activity
296 23-Oct-2010 DSS-65 2433 Monitor
297 24-Oct-2010 DSS-65 2434 Monitor
298 25-Oct-2010 DSS-65 2435
NNO 2435
Monitor
299 26-Oct-2010 DSS-54 2434 Monitor
301 28-Oct-2010 DSS-65 2438
NNO 2438
Monitor
302 29-Oct-2010 DSS-65 2439 Monitor
303 30-Oct-2010 DSS-65 2440 Monitor
304 31-Oct-2010 DSS-65 2441 Monitor
305 01-Nov-2010 NNO 2442 Monitor
307 03-Nov-2010 NNO 2444 Monitor
309 05-Nov-2010 NNO 2446 Monitor
312 08-Nov-2010 NNO 2449 Monitor
313 09-Nov-2010 NNO 2450 Monitor
314 10-Nov-2010 NNO 2451 Monitor
316 12-Nov-2010 NNO 2453 Monitor
317 13-Nov-2010 DSS-55 2454 Monitor + reaction wheel C relubrication
318 14-Nov-2010 DSS-65 2455 Monitor

DoY = Day of year

At the end of the reporting period on 14 November, Rosetta was 655 million km from Earth (4.44 AU); the one-way signal travel time was 36 min 58 sec (2218 sec). The spacecraft's distance from the Sun was 528.6 million km (3.53 AU).

Also on 14 November, Rosetta reached its maximum distance from Earth so far (4.44 AU). Due to the movement of Earth around the Sun, the spacecraft-Earth distance will now decrease to 3.29 AU on 19 April 2011; it will increase again afterwards and break the current record at the end of July 2011.

Spacecraft

Attitude and orbit control system
Since 27 August, reaction wheel C has been exhibiting very noisy friction torque; since its behaviour appears to be degrading, a decision was taken to perform a relubrication and operate the wheel at lower speeds (< 1000 RPM, except during slew manoeuvres). In view of this problem, the use of reaction wheels in safe mode has been disabled since 13 November.

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. Updated on-board control procedures were uplinked to the spacecraft on 8 November (DoY 312/2010).
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). Experiment activities are being supported by means of dedicated ground station measurements.
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).

Special events

The Hibernation Readiness Review was held on 5 November as planned. The board declared all the objectives of the review successful pending the implementation of a few recommendations and actions.

Future milestones

The plan for the payload checkout is as follows:

  • week 47: RPC EEPROM refresh
  • week 48: Lander test part one and passive checkout of payload complement
  • week 49: Lander test part two and ROSINA software update

The activities scheduled for the OSIRIS instrument have been postponed until the conclusion of the relevant Material Review Board (MRB) is available. The instrument will be activated after the first rendezvous manoeuvre, at a time compatible with the spacecraft operations plan.

The first rendezvous manoeuvre is planned for the second half of January 2011, with the first burn leg on 17 January.  Due to its magnitude, this manoeuvre has been split into five nominal burns plus an optional extra one in the event that a final correction is needed.

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Legal disclaimer
This report is based on the ESOC mission operations report, WOR #146. Please see the copyright section of the legal disclaimer (linked from the home page http://sci.esa.int) for terms of use.

      Last Update: 1 September 2019
      19-Mar-2024 04:50 UT

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