ESA Science & Technology - No. 117 - Passive Cruise Phase

In preparation of the upcoming payload check-out 10 activities several command files required for instrument maintenance operations have been uplinked to the spacecraft on DOY 215 and 222. The uplinking of files required for the payload check-out 10 will continue over the coming weeks.

Mission operations have been conducted with support of the ESA New Norcia (NNO) ground station.

At the end of the reporting period (DoY 233) Rosetta was at 95.13 million km from Earth (0.65 AU) and the one-way signal travel time was 317 seconds. The distance to the Sun was 223.82 million km (1.49 AU).

Spacecraft

Payload
All instruments are switched OFF, except for the Standard Radiation Environment Monitor (SREM) that continues to run in the background.

ALICE
The instrument is OFF.

CONSERT
The instrument is OFF.

COSIMA
The instrument is OFF.

GIADA
The instrument is OFF.

MIDAS
The instrument is OFF.

MIRO
The instrument is OFF.

OSIRIS
The instrument is OFF.

ROSINA
The instrument is OFF.

RPC
The instrument is OFF.

RSI
The instrument is muted.

VIRTIS
The instrument is OFF.

LANDER Philae
The instrument is OFF.

SREM
Since DoY 091/2009 the accumulation settings are configured for passive cruise mode.

Future Milestones

The current passive cruise phase will continue until beginning of September when the spacecraft will be reconfigured in active cruise mode in preparation of the payload check-out 10, as well as the Earth swing-by 3 phase.

In week 38 the routine spacecraft check-out will be conducted. In preparation of the Deep Space Hibernation test of January 2010 this check-out will include a characterisation of the spacecraft inertia matrix and of the Sun sensors behaviour at large angles.

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Legal disclaimer
This report is based on the ESOC mission operations report, WOR #117. Please see the copyright section of the legal disclaimer (bottom of this page) for terms of use.