Search Publications
Nucleus properties of Comet 67P/Churyumov Gerasimenko estimated from non-gravitational force modeling
Gutiérrez, Pedro J.; Davidsson, Björn J. R.
By considering model comet nuclei with a wide range of sizes, prolate ellipsoidal shapes, spin axis orientations, and surface activity patterns, constraints have been placed on the nucleus properties of the primary Rosetta target, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This is done by requiring that the model bodies simultaneously reproduce the empirica…
Asteroid target selection for the new Rosetta mission baseline. 21 Lutetia and 2867 Steins
Barbieri, C.; Barucci, M. A.; Fornasier, S. +8 more
The new Rosetta mission baseline to the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko includes two asteroid fly-bys. To help in target selection we studied all the candidates of all the possible scenarios. Observations have been carried out at ESO-NTT (La Silla, Chile), TNG (Canaries), and NASA-IRTF (Hawaii) telescopes, in order to determine the taxonomy of all…
Deep Impact Observations by OSIRIS Onboard the Rosetta Spacecraft
Keller, Horst Uwe; Hviid, Stubbe F.; Lamy, Philippe +9 more
The OSIRIS cameras (optical, spectroscopic, and infrared remote imaging system) onboard the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft observed comet 9P/Tempel 1 for 17 days continuously around the time of NASA's Deep Impact mission. The cyanide-to-water production ratio was slightly enhanced in the impact cloud, compared with that of normal comet…
Thermal evolution model of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the new Rosetta target
Coradini, A.; Capria, M. T.; de Sanctis, M. C.
Rosetta, the ESA mission dedicated to the detailed study of a comet nucleus before and after the onset of activity, will arrive at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014. At the moment, little is known about this comet, but the successful design of the ROSETTA mission requires some preliminary knowledge of the comet physical parameters. These qua…
Secular light curve of Comet 28P/Neujmin 1 and of spacecraft target Comets 1P/Halley, 9P/Tempel 1, 19P/Borrelly, 21P/Giacobinni Zinner, 26P/Grigg Skjellerup, 67P/Churyumov Gerasimenko, and 81P/Wild 2
Ferrín, Ignacio
We present the secular light curves of eight comets listed in the title. Two plots per comet are needed to study these objects: a reduced magnitude (to Δ=1 AU = geocentric distance) vs time, and a reduced magnitude vs Log R ( R=heliocentric distance). A total of over 16 new parameters, are measured from both plots, and give an unprecedented amount…
Outgassing-induced effects in the rotational state of comet 67P/Churyumov—Gerasimenko during the Rosetta mission
Samarasinha, Nalin H.; Lamy, Philippe; Jorda, Laurent +1 more
The new target of the Rosetta mission is comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (hereafter 67P/C-G). In order to support the planning of the mission, in particular the strategy during the mapping and landing phases, we have performed numerical simulations of the rotational evolution of a comet in the orbit of 67P/C-G. In these simulations, the currently …
The ground calibration setup of OMEGA and VIRTIS experiments: description and performances
Langevin, Yves; Gondet, Brigitte; Bonello, Guillaume +4 more
Hyperspectral imagery is an essential technique for remote sensing of surfaces and atmospheres of planetary objects. However, given the instrumental complexity of coupling imaging and spectroscopy, in particular in the infrared, an in-depth ground calibration is mandatory to enable an unbiased and optimized data reduction. This paper presents the …
Dust Activity in Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko from February 20 to April 20, 2003
Lara, L. M.; Gutiérrez, P. J.; Licandro, J. +1 more
Broadband imaging of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko has provided more data on the characterisation of the target of the ESA Rosetta Mission. The comet monitoring between rh=2.37 and rh=2.78 AU postperihelion shows a prominent dust coma which extends up to ≈ 25,000 km from the nucleus, and a long dust structure in approximate…
The Surface Structure of the M-Type Asteroid 21 Lutetia: Spectral and Frequency Analysis
Prokof'eva, V. V.; Bochkov, V. V.; Busarev, V. V.
A preliminary study of the surface of the asteroid 21 Lutetia with ground-based methods is of significant importance, because this object is included into the Rosetta space mission schedule. From August 31 to November 20, 2000, about 50 spectra of Lutetia and the same number of spectra of the solar analog HD10307 (G2V) and regional standards were …
COSAC Onboard Rosetta: A Bioastronomy Experiment for the Short-Period Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
Roll, Reinhard; Rosenbauer, Helmut; Gösmann, Fred +1 more
The COSAC (Cometary Sampling and Composition Experiment) onboard the Rosetta mission is a combined gas chromatograph (GC)-mass spectrometer (MS). It is situated on Philae, the lander of the mission, which is intended to land on the nucleus of comet 67/PChuryumov- Gerasimenko. The purpose of the experiment is to analyze the volatile fraction of soi…