Earth swingby navigation campaign up to 29 October 2009
Date: 28 October 2009
Satellite: Rosetta
Depicts: Targeting of approach for third Earth swingby in the B-plane
Copyright: ESA
On 13 November 2009, Rosetta will perform its third Earth swing-by. This plot shows the target point (green) for Rosetta's approach relative to the Earth in the B-plane. The B-plane is a planar coordinate system that allows targeting during a gravity assist.
The target is not the point of closest approach. Instead this virtual point corresponds to what would be Rosetta's miss distance if the Earth had no gravity. (It is the point through which the spacecraft's incoming hyperbolic asymptotic velocity vector passes, which is perpendicular to this B-plane).
Based on radiometric data from the navigation campaign the Rosetta flight dynamics team has determined solutions for the spacecraft's predicted incoming trajectory in the B-plane. This plot shows the evolution of the navigation campaign from 26 to 29 October, after the successful trajectory correction manoeuvre (TCM) on 22 October. The TCM has moved the predicted point in the B plane to less than 1 km from the target point.
Successively more accurate determinations of the predicted point relative to the target were obtained using data up to 26 October (black) and 29 October (red). For each date the associated 3-sigma error ellipse is also given. Relative to the previous plot (see related image "Earth swingby navigation campaign up to 26 Oct 2009") this plot is a 10× zoom on the target region.
| Evolution of the predicted offset from the target, in this plot: | |
| Black: | Result using data up to 26 October. The offset from the target in the B-plane is < 1 km |
| Red: | Result using data up to and including 29 October. The offset from the target in the B-plane is < 1 km |
