Relative position of Rosetta and Steins in target plane - 14 August 2008
Date: 20 August 2008
Satellite: Rosetta
Depicts: Rosetta - Steins fly-by target plane
Copyright: ESA
This plot shows the situation in the target plane for the Rosetta fly-by of asteroid Steins. It is based on the optical navigation data as well as all radiometric data (spacecraft tracking) and ground-based astrometric data up to and including 14 August 2008.
Ellipses indicate 3-sigma error circles around Rosetta's determined positions (crosses) relative to asteroid Steins (red point at origin). The target relative position of Rosetta for the Steins fly-by is marked in green and is at 800 km from asteroid Steins.
On 14 August, a Trajectory Control Manoeuvre (TCM) was performed to adjust Rosetta's trajectory and move the spacecraft's projected fly-by distance toward the target value. The colour-coded projected positions before and after the TCM are:
| Blue | The blue cross and associated dashed 3-sigma error ellipse is the final solution from 11 August (see related images). |
| Black | The black cross and associated dashed 3-sigma error ellipse is the expected solution immediately after the TCM on 14 August. |
| Orange | The orange cross and associated 3-sigma error ellipse is the latest solution from 14 August. |
On 14 August, Rosetta's final projected relative position was 8.3 km from the target. If there would be no further change to Rosetta's trajectory, the spacecraft would pass asteroid Steins at about 792.4 km (orange cross).
