No. 101 - Active Payload Checkout 8 Completed
A total of ten New Norcia (NNO) passes were taken during this period:
| DOY | Date | Pass | Main Activity |
| 203 | 21/07/08 | NNO 1606 | Payload check-out 8: Interference test and COSIMA |
| 204 | 22/07/08 | NNO 1607 | Payload check-out 8: COSIMA |
| 205 | 23/07/08 | NNO 1608 | Payload check-out 8: VIRTIS OBSM |
| 206 | 24/07/08 | NNO 1609 | Payload check-out 8: ROSINA |
| 207 | 25/07/08 | NNO 1610 | Payload check-out 8: ROSINA |
| 210 | 28/07/08 | NNO 1613 | Payload check-out 8: ROSINA, Lander |
| 211 | 29/07/08 | NNO 1614 |
Payload check-out 8: |
| 212 | 30/07/08 | NNO 1615 | Payload check-out 8: Lander |
| 213 | 31/07/08 | NNO 1616 | Payload check-out 8: Lander |
| 214 | 01/08/08 | NNO 1617 | Payload check-out 8: Lander |
At the end of the reporting period (DoY 215) Rosetta was at 285.67 million km from Earth (1.90 AU) and the one-way signal travel time was 953 seconds. The distance to the Sun was 304 million km (2.03 AU).
Spacecraft
Payload
Several instruments have been activated during the reporting period as planned for the payload checkout 8 activities. The highlights of the major events linked to these operations are given below for the different instruments. On DoY 201-202 the instruments have been activated as part of the interference test.
ALICE
The instrument was activated as part of the interference test (DoY 201) and later (DoY 203 and 208) for on-board software maintenance (OBSM) activity (software v. 2.6 uplinked) and a functional test.
CONSERT
The instrument was activated several times as part of the interference test and tests with the lander Philae.
COSIMA
COSIMA was activated a few times as part of the interference test and for maintenance activities on emitters A and C.
GIADA
The instrument was activated on DoY 201 as part of the interference test.
MIDAS
The instrument was activated as part of the interference test and for a functional test including a small software patch.
MIRO
The instrument was activated once as part of the interference test.
OSIRIS
The instrument was activated as part of the interference test and for further functional tests. The shutter operated very well during these operations.
ROSINA
The instrument was activated during the reporting period for a series of functional tests. On DoY 205 the software v.7.0 was uplinked to the nominal side (the redundant side was updated already on DoY 196).
RPC
RPC was tested during the interference test with other instruments. On DoY 214, RPC-IES was exercised together with the ROMAP experiment on the lander for a cross-correlation activity.
RSI
The instrument is muted.
VIRTIS
The instrument was activated as part of the interference test and on DoY 205 for a complete software uplink (v.4). The new software has been uplinked to both the nominal and redundant Main Electronics and has been successfully tested in flight.
Lander Philae
The lander was activated multiple times for an extensive test session lasting several days. Most of the subsystems and instruments have been activated and tested as planned.
SREM
Since DoY 184/2008 the accumulation settings are configured for active cruise mode.
Future Milestones
The cruise phase continues towards asteroid Steins which will be encountered early September 2008. Spacecraft activities are now focused on the operations required for the optical navigation campaign (4 August to 4 September), the spacecraft now being at ~26 million km from the asteroid. This campaign will include imaging by the navigation camera (NAVCAM) and by the OSIRIS instrument. The image data will be processed by the flight dynamics team at ESOC in order to determine the orbit of asteroid Steins with higher accuracy than the one available from ground observations. Trajectory correction manoeuvres will be executed as required by the fly-by operations.
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Legal disclaimer
This report is based on the ESOC mission operations report, WOR #101. Please see the copyright section of the legal disclaimer (bottom of this page) for terms of use.