- published: 12 Nov 2014
- views: 46557
Rosetta is a space probe built by the European Space Agency launched on 2 March 2004. Along with Philae, its lander module, Rosetta is performing a detailed study of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P). On 6 August 2014, the spacecraft reached the comet and performed a series of manoeuvres to be captured in its orbit. On 12 November, the lander module performed the first successful landing on a comet.As of 2015, the mission continues to return data from the spacecraft in orbit and from the lander in the comet's surface. During its journey to the comet, the spacecraft flew by Mars and the asteroids 21 Lutetia and 2867 Šteins.
The probe is named after the Rosetta Stone, a stele of Egyptian origin featuring a decree in three scripts. The lander is named after the Philae obelisk, which bears a bilingual Greek and Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription. A comparison of its hieroglyphs with those on the Rosetta Stone catalysed the deciphering of the Egyptian writing system. Similarly, it is hoped that these spacecraft will result in better understanding of comets and the early Solar System. In a more direct analogy to its namesake, the Rosetta spacecraft also carries a micro-etched nickel alloy Rosetta disc donated by the Long Now Foundation inscribed with 13,000 pages of text in 1200 languages.
Coordinates: 31°24′N 30°25′E / 31.400°N 30.417°E / 31.400; 30.417
Rosetta (/roʊˈzɛtə/; Arabic: رشيد Rašīd IPA: [ɾɑˈʃiːd]; French: Rosette [ʁo.zɛt]) is a port city of the Nile Delta, located 65 km (40 mi) east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate.
Founded around in the 9th century, Rashid boomed with the decline of Alexandria following the Ottoman conquest of Egypt in 1517, only to wane in importance after Alexandria's revival. During the 19th century, it was a popular British tourist destination, known for its charming Ottoman mansions, citrus groves and comparative cleanliness.
Both the Arabic name Rašīd (meaning "guide") and the western name Rosetta or Rosette ("little rose" in Italian and French respectively) are corruptions (or folk etymologies) of a Coptic toponym, Trashit.Rosetta or Rosette was the name used by the French at the time of Napoleon Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt and thus became eponymous of the Rosetta Stone (French: Pierre de Rosette), which was found by French soldiers at the nearby Fort Julien in 1799.
A space probe is a robotic spacecraft that leaves Earth orbit and explores space. It may approach the Moon; enter interplanetary space; flyby, orbit, or land on other planetary bodies; or approach interstellar space.
See List of active Solar System probes for a list of active probes; the space agencies of the USSR (now Russia and Ukraine), the United States, the European Union, Japan, China and India have in the aggregate launched probes to several planets and moons of the Solar System as well as to a number of asteroids and comets. Approximately fifteen missions are currently operational. Also a probe travels through space to collect science information.Probes do not have astronauts. Probes send data back to Earth for scientists to study.
Once a probe has left the vicinity of Earth, its trajectory will likely take it along an orbit around the Sun similar to the Earth's orbit. To reach another planet, the simplest practical method is a Hohmann transfer orbit. More complex techniques, such as gravitational slingshots, can be more fuel-efficient, though they may require the probe to spend more time in transit. Some high Delta-V missions (such as those with high inclination changes) can only be performed, within the limits of modern propulsion, using gravitational slingshots. A technique using very little propulsion, but requiring a considerable amount of time, is to follow a trajectory on the Interplanetary Transport Network.