images

Rosetta spacecraft preparation

by

ESA/A. Van der Geest/Novapix

Reference

e-son30-00100

Date

2006-11-25

Testing Rosetta in the ESA/ESTEC Test Centre. The mission goal is a rendezvous with comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. On its journey to the comet, the spacecraft will fly by close to two asteroids. The spacecraft will map the comet's surface in fine detail and land a package of instruments (the Rosetta Lander) to study some of the most primitive, un-processed material in the solar system. The mission will provide clues to the physical and chemical processes that marked the systems beginning 4.6 billion years ago.Rosetta was launched on march 2 2004 by an Ariane-5 from Kourou, French Guiana