Pingie: HTTP:: Rosetta 039 s Earth Approach 039 Within Expectations 039

HTTP:: Rosetta 039 s Earth Approach 039 Within Expectations 039
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Last Thursday, the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta space probe managed to perform one of the most successful trajectory correction maneuvers (TCM), according to officials at the agency. The spacecraft's gravity-assist maneuver was very close to projections, and it is now well on its way to meeting up and studying the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, in 2014. The spacecraft also contains the Philae lander, whose main purpose is to land on the space rock, and provide in situ measurements of its characteristics, AlphaGalileo reports. “The maneuver was very close to the predicted and required amount. We will continue to analyze the results to determine whether we will need any additional maneuvers,” ESA Flight Dynamics lead specialist Trevor Morley says. A number of scientific sources was used to infer the new conclusion, the expert adds, including the telemetry radioed down by Rosetta, and Doppler / ranging data received from ESA and NASA ground stations. The Ros!
etta telemetry also included star-tracker data and parameters related to fuel usage and thruster operations, which were extremely useful in determining the chances the spacecraft had of meeting its target. There were some highly complex mathematics involved in planning the meeting between the space probe and the comet, and all of ...
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http://news.softpedia.com/news/Rosetta-s-Earth-Approach-Within-Expectations-125531.shtml
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