Search Publications

The calculation of Afρ and mass loss rate for comets

Rubin, Martin; Fink, Uwe

Ab initio calculations of Afρ are presented using Mie scattering theory and a Direct Simulation Monte Carlo (DSMC) dust outflow model in support of the Rosetta mission and its target 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (CG). These calculations are performed for particle sizes ranging from 0.010 µm to 1.0 cm. The present status of our knowledge of vari…

Interpretation of combined infrared, submillimeter, and millimeter thermal flux data obtained during the Rosetta fly-by of Asteroid (21) Lutetia

Capaccioni, F.; Lee, S.; Hofstadter, M. +9 more

The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft is the first Solar System mission to include instrumentation capable of measuring planetary thermal fluxes at both near-IR (VIRTIS) and submillimeter-millimeter (smm-mm, MIRO) wavelengths. Its primary mission is a 1 year reconnaissance of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko beginning in 2014. During a 201…

Radar properties of comets: Parametric dielectric modeling of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Kofman, Wlodek; Heggy, Essam; Palmer, Elizabeth M. +3 more

In 2014, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission is scheduled to rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (Comet 67P). Rosetta’s CONSERT experiment aims to explore the cometary nucleus’ geophysical properties using radar tomography. The expected scientific return and inversion algorithms are mainly dependent on our understanding of the …

Asteroid (2867) Steins: Shape, topography and global physical properties from OSIRIS observations

Jorda, L.; Lamy, P. L.; Groussin, O. +4 more

The Rosetta spacecraft flew by Asteroid (2867) Steins on 5 September 2008, allowing the onboard OSIRIS cameras to collect the first images of an E-type asteroid. We implemented several three-dimensional reconstruction techniques to retrieve its shape. Limb profiles, combined with stereo control points, were used to reconstruct an approximate shape…

Disk-resolved photometry of Asteroid (2867) Steins

Jorda, L.; Lamy, P. L.; Keller, H. U. +2 more

We present a new method to perform disk-resolved photometry in order to investigate the intrinsic photometric properties of the surface of small Solar System bodies. We adopt the standard approach where a shape model is combined with a photometric formalism - in practise the Hapke formalism - to remove the effects of topography and recover the pho…

Identification and physical properties of craters on Asteroid (2867) Steins

Jorda, L.; Lamy, P.; Barbieri, C. +2 more

We report on the physical properties of the craters of Asteroid (2867) Steins based on an analysis of images obtained with the OSIRIS instrument during the Rosetta flyby that took place on 5 September 2008. To compensate for the limited spatial resolution of the images and unfavorable illumination conditions, we applied three different filtering t…