Rosetta’s New Rendevous
DOI: 10.1063/1.4797087
The comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is the new destination of Rosetta, a European Space Agency mission. Originally scheduled for launch this past January to the comet Wirtanen, Rosetta was postponed after an Ariane 5 launch rocket failed (see Physics Today, March 2003, page 28 ). A later trip to Wirtanen was ruled out because it would require a more powerful rocket—exactly the type that failed—so ESA now plans to send the spacecraft to Churyumov-Gerasimenko on 26 Feburary 2004. The change of plans will cost ESA about €73 million ($85 million).
ESA
More about the authors
Toni Feder, tfeder@aip.org
