Rosetta Lander ― Overview

摘要

The Rosetta Lander is part of the ESA cornerstone mission "Rosetta" to comet P/Wirtanen and has been provided by an international consortium. It will be ejected from the main spacecraft at a distance of about 3 AU from the sun, descend to the comets surface and investigate the nucleus with a complement of ten scientific instruments. The Flight model of the Lander has been delivered to ESA in December 2001, was environmentally tested together with the Rosetta Orbiter, and is shipped to Kourou early September. Launch is planned for January 13, 2003 with an ArianeV followed by the commissioning phase. After a cruise period of about 9 years and near comet investigation by the Orbiter, landing is foreseen for late 2012. The Lander will be operated (via ESOC) by the Lander Control Centre (LCC) at DLR and the Science Operations and Navigation Centre (SONC) at CNES.