New asteroid targets for Rosetta
8 September 1998
On its way to meet with comet 46 P/Wirtanen, Rosetta will fly by and study two asteroids. The target asteroids have changed to Otawara and Siwa.Siwa is expected to be a more primitive asteroid than the previously proposed target (Mimistrobell), and so may provide more answers to questions on the formation of our solar system.
The new mission baseline decided at the last Science Working Team (SWT) meeting is as follows:
Launch - 20 January 2003
Mars gravity assists - 28 May 2005
First Earth gravity assist - 26 October 2005
Otawara flyby - 10 July 2006
Second Earth gravity assist - 27 October 2007
Siwa flyby - 23 July 2008
Rendezvous manoeuvre - 27 November 2011
Last Update: 1 September 2019
