Rosetta Status Report - February 2005
On 3 December the 2nd Mission Commissioning Results Review was successfully completed with the Review Board meeting at ESOC. Almost all objectives of the spacecraft and payload commissioning were met, the only exception being the Interference Campaign that could not be completed due to the fact that Rosina could not participate due to onboard software problems. The problem is understood, software upgrades are being prepared and it is planned to repeat the Interference Campaign end 2006 before the Mars flyby.
Since 17 October 2004, i.e. after the completion of the last phase of the payload commissioning activities the spacecraft is in quiet cruise mode. A small trajectory correction manoeuvre (planned) of about 9 cms-1 was executed on 25 November. However, due to an on-board software problem the manoeuvre lasted longer than expected and was terminated by timeout. The software problem was identified and the S/C recovered into nominal mode within hours of the event. On 9 December a new Trajectory correction manoeuvre of about 11 cms-1 was executed to correct for the errors introduced by the excessive duration of the original manoeuvre. This correction was successful and no further delta-V manoeuvre is planned until February 2005.
The SREM (Standard Radiation Monitor) was switched backed on 13 January and will be kept active for background monitoring operations. All other instruments are inactive. However, limited payload activities will resume end January with software upload for OSIRIS followed by delta-commissioning activities for ROSINA. Preparations for the first Earth Swing-by have started. Rosetta will pass the Earth on 4 March at 22:00 UTC at a distance of 1900 km.