Rosetta had a narrow escape. The European probe has encountered serious difficulties of navigation by flying very close “tchouri” Saturday but she is out and now stands at a respectful distance from the comet. “Rosetta is not ready to come back so close to the comet,” said Sylvain Lodiot Thursday, operations manager of the probe at ESOC (European Space Operations Centre) in Darmstadt (Germany).
The closer Churyumov-Gerasimenko of the comet engaged in a race to the sun, the more the probe, which is provided with large solar panels, encounters gas and dust streaks. Last Saturday, flying comet only 14 km away from the surface, Rosetta has “experienced significant navigational challenges,” according to the European Space Agency (ESA). “It was quite violent,” according to Sylvain Lodiot.
“The sensors do not see anything”
When the probe approached the comet 67 / P, its two star sensors, which it provide direction, began to malfunction because they were disturbed by the many surrounding dust, says Sylvain Lodiot. “The sensors saw nothing more” and took debris from the comet for stars, which distorts everything.
ESA engineers had already seen this problem on February 14 during a Rosetta passing just 6 km from the surface of “tchouri.” They chose to disable the sensors, just for the flyover. But then when they wanted to reactivate the sensors, essential for good navigation of the probe, refused to turn back.
“Throughout the night from Saturday to Sunday, we made attempts regularly” to restart, says the young French. The directional antenna Rosetta began not point the Earth, which had an impact on communications.
“It’s months of work in the trash”
The probe was then switched to safe mode (safe mode) for a while. All instruments were turned off, the priority is to save the ship and keep in touch with the Earth. “Fortunately, the sensors have started walking when the probe has found 75 km from the comet.”
Monday, Rosetta was passed back in normal mode. “The probe was able to recover but it will take a little more time to resume normal science,” said ESA. She was careful to 400 km from the comet Wednesday.
“Thank you for your kind messages,” Rosetta said Thursday on his Twitter account run by ESA. “I feel much better and I hope to resume my normal activities soon.”
“The ship is in perfect condition. It has not been degraded,” according to Sylvain Lodiot. “We should go back to 100 km from the comet.” Rosetta teams will have to redo all the flight plan of the probe. “It’s months of work in the trash,” notes Sylvain Lodiot. Scientific planning should also be reviewed.
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