Download Press release - Airbus Group

Press release
SP 17/2014 R
6 August 2014
Rosetta comet chaser reaches destination to decipher origins of
solar system 4,6 billion years ago
 After a journey of six billion kilometres, satellite and lander embark on
the search for primary matter
 Mission confirms Airbus Defence and Space’s role as a key ESA
partner in planetary research
The Rosetta comet chaser developed and built by Airbus Defence and Space for the
European Space Agency (ESA) has arrived at its destination after flying for more than 10
years and travelling more than six billion kilometres. It is now ready to swivel into an orbit
around the comet called 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The mission assigned to Rosetta
and to the Philae lander that it is carrying, is to examine primary material from the nursery of
the solar system 4.6 billion years ago over the next one and a half years.
At 11.30 CET, the ESA satellite control centre in Darmstadt, Germany, received news via
radio signal that Rosetta had begun its approach. The space probe’s rendezvous with 67P
took place some 400 million kilometres away from Earth. Rosetta will now accompany the
comet on its journey around the sun and back again into the depths of our solar system. The
Philae lander is scheduled to touch down on the comet’s surface in November in order to
carry out measurements there.
“This is a great moment for the whole space community and also for ESA as well as our
engineers and technicians at Airbus Defence and Space. Their creativity in the mission
design and construction phase, as well as their expertise during the mission so far, have
been key for Rosetta’s success,” said François Auque, Head of Space Systems. “Our robust
spacecraft and the extraordinary performance of our hardware components, underline what
is meant by ‘quality’.”
Since being launched from the spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on 2 March 2004, the
Rosetta probe has flown three times past the Earth and once past Mars, in order to gain
momentum, as well as past two asteroids (Steins 2008 and Lutetia 2010). For the most
distant part of the journey, beyond the orbit of Jupiter, Rosetta was placed into “hibernation”
for 31 months. It was awakened on 20 January this year in preparation for the final stage of
its extraordinary journey to the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet.
For planetary researchers, the Rosetta mission is akin to journeying back to the origins of the
solar system. Unlike planets, whose rocks have been subjected to constant erosion and
tectonics, the material inside the comet is the same as it was 4.6 billion years ago when it
came into existence. Comets are therefore, in some ways, deep-frozen archives that
scientists are now attempting to decipher.
Press Release
Airbus Defence and Space is ESA’s key partner in the field of planetary research. Not only
has the company been responsible for the industrial leadership of the Giotto comet mission,
which flew by Halley’s comet in 1986 and the Grigg-Skjellerup comet in 1992, but it has also
been in charge of the active probes Mars Express and Venus Express since 2003 and 2005,
respectively. And, in 2004, Airbus Defence and Space’s integrated probe Huygens soared
through the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan.
While the hardware for Rosetta is designed to withstand temperatures as low as 270 degrees Celsius and a state of overwhelming “darkness”, the company currently is
preparing the mercurial mission BepiColombo that has exactly the opposite characteristics.
As of 2016, that mission will set out for the innermost planet of our solar system, Mercury,
where temperatures of +350 degrees Celsius and solar radiation ten times more intense than
on Earth will present new challenges for engineers and scientists. Airbus Defence and Space
will also play a key role in the upcoming ExoMars missions in 2016 and 2018, including the
development of the ESA rover for the 2018 mission.
About Airbus Defence and Space
Airbus Defence and Space is a division of Airbus Group formed by combining the business
activities of Cassidian, Astrium and Airbus Military. The new division is Europe’s number one
defence and space enterprise, the second largest space business worldwide and among the
top ten global defence enterprises. It employs some 40,000 employees generating revenues
of approximately €14 billion per year.
Press contacts:
Astrid Emerit
Jeremy Close
Gregory Gavroy
Ralph Heinrich
Mathias Pikelj
Francisco Lechón
+ 33 1 77 51 80 36
+ 44 14 38 77 38 72
+ 33 1 77 51 80 32
+ 49 89 607 33971
+ 49 75 45 89 123
+ 34 91 586 37 41
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
www.airbusdefenceandspace.com
Page 2 of 2