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Near-term interstellar probe: First step
Wimmer-Schweingruber, Robert F.; McNutt, Ralph L.; Gruntman, Mike +9 more
Exploration of the heliosphere and the far reaches of our solar system by the Voyagers and New Horizons and near-Earth observations of the Kuiper Belt and exoplanetary systems have all profoundly changed how we view our own home in space. An Interstellar Probe escaping beyond the solar-system boundaries with new observational techniques would be a…
Approximation for attraction field of irregular celestial bodies using four massive points
Burov, Alexander A.; Guerman, Anna D.; Nikonova, Ekaterina A. +1 more
Approximation of the gravitational field of an irregular celestial body by the gravitational attraction field of four massive points is studied here in the framework of K-means method, known from the theory of pattern recognition. Using this approach, the simplified models for gravitational fields of asteroid (1620) Geographos and comet (67P) Chur…
The search campaign to identify and image the Philae Lander on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Sierks, H.; Güttler, C.; Deller, J. +30 more
On the 12th of November 2014, the Rosetta Philae Lander descended to make the first soft touchdown on the surface of a comet - comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. That soft touchdown did occur but due to the failure in the firing of its two harpoons, Philae bounced and travelled across the comet making contact with the surface twice more before final…
BELA transmitter performance and pointing stability verification campaign at DLR-PF
Michaelis, H.; Kallenbach, R.; Hussmann, H. +4 more
BELA is the first European planetary laser altimeter and shall be launched onboard of ESA's Mercury Planetary Orbiter (MPO) as part of the BepiColombo spacecraft in October 2018. The complete development of the instrument was done in collaboration with team members in Switzerland, Germany and Spain. The transmitter is also the first space-qualifie…