A planned maneuver brought the European Space Agency’s comet chasing spacecraft Rosetta in range of some dangerous dust and gas clouds, which affected its navigation and communication abilities. These have been restored, but project scientists will have to modify the spacecraft’s planned trajectory and experiments to avoid a second close encounter with comet dust.
However, as the ESA press release notes, Rosetta did manage to take some spectacular close-up pictures of Comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko’s surface and landscape features.
This is not the closest Rosetta has flown to its comet – in March it did a flyby that brought it 8 km above the surface. However as the comet moves closer to the sun, it becomes more active, with dust and gas flying off the surface. The goal of the flyby was to investigate one of the active regions, which might offer clues to the composition of the comet’s surface.
During last week’s flyby, Rosetta’s solar panels were subjected to the impact of a dense cloud of dust and gas. This increased the drag on them. Also, since the spacecraft navigates by sighting stars, the comet debris confused its navigation system, leading it to drift and lose communication with earth. Luckily, the spacecraft was not damaged and communications have been restored.
The project team have spent some sleepless nights and according to operations manager Sylvain Lodiot, “Rosetta won’t be going so close (to the comet) again.” This means that the spacecraft’s planned trajectory and science experiments will have to be revised. Comets are considered to be leftover material from the creation of the solar system and offer important clues to its early history. Comet 67P/ C-G competes its orbit of the sun in 6.45 years and will be at perihelion – the closest point in its orbit to the sun – on 13 August.
Also, as the comet approaches the sun, its rising surface temperatures might help to awaken Rosetta’s lost lander Philae. The mission team will try and wake the lander again on April 14.
