ESA Science & Technology - ESA BR-215: Rosetta - Europe's Comet Chaser

Publication date: 01 December 2003

Journal: ESA Brochure
Volume: 215
Year: 2003

Copyright: ESA

In November 1993, the International Rosetta Mission was approved as a Cornerstone Mission in ESA's Horizons 2000 Science Programme. Since then, scientists and engineers from all over Europe and the United States have been combining their talents to build an orbiter and a lander for this unique expedition to unravel the secrets of a mysterious mini ice world – a comet.

Table of contents:

• Rosetta: Europe's comet chaser
• Why 'Rosetta'
• Life and survival in deep space
• The cosmic billiard ball
• The long trek
• Rendezvous with a comet
• Debris of the Solar System: asteroids
• Debris of the Solar System: Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
• The Rosetta orbiter
• Science from the orbiter
• The Rosetta lander
• Long-distance communication
• Rosetta overview

Note: a more recent Rosetta mission brochure (ESA BR-321) is available here.