Hi guys, this is a thread about the mysterious occrence on the rosetta spacecraft.
Earlier out ArMaP had started a thread regarding the flyby the link is,
www.abovetopsecret.com...'
I did some research on the internet and though the esa video shows the flyby of rosetta as in ArMaPs thread in the AP website the article on it said
that one of the high resolution camera onboard rosetta failed as it neared the surface and the mission managet told AP that the software switched off
automatically, and they couldnt do anything.
Here's the content, the link doesnt work,
news.yahoo.com...
DARMSTADT, Germany (AP) -- The European deep space probe Rosetta successfully completed a flyby of an asteroid millions of miles from earth, but its
high resolution camera stopped shortly before the closest pass, space officials said Saturday.
Rosetta caught up with the Steins asteroid, also known as Asteroid 2867, just after 8:45 p.m. (1845 GMT) Friday in the asteroid belt between the
orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The probe came within 500 miles (805 kilometers) of the asteroid - which turned out to be slightly larger than scientists
expected.
Officials at the European Space Agency were not sure exactly what caused the camera to balk.
"The software switched off automatically," Gerhard Schwehm, the ESA mission manager and head of solar systems science operations told The Associated
Press. "The camera has some software limits and we'll analyze why this happened later."
Another wide angle camera was able to take pictures and send them to the space center, Schwehm said.
At a news conference, Uwe Keller, the principal camera investigator, said despite the camera turning off about nine minutes before its closest
approach, it switched back on again later and was now working well. Keller said he did not expect the camera setback to affect the rest of the
mission.
Craters of different ages were found on the surface of the gray-colored asteroid, showing a "rich collisional history," Keller said.
The probe recorded more than 23 craters over 200 meters wide, with the biggest being about 1.2 miles (2 kilometers) wide.
According to measurements by the probe, the diamond-shaped asteroid turned out to be 3.1 miles (5 kilometers) in diameter, slightly larger than an
earlier estimate of 3 miles (4.8 kilometers).
The Rosetta craft was launched in March 2004 from French Guyana, and is now about 250 million miles (402 million kilometers) from Earth.
Schwehm said the historic mission could give astronomers crucial clues to help them understand the creation of the solar system.
The reason for the failure they say is that the software had limitations and that they were analysing it, but I suspect some conspiracy and he also
said that the second smaller camera worked fine.
So, how come the first camera alone fail and the second camera work fine
[edit on 7-9-2008 by peacejet]
[edit on 7-9-2008 by peacejet]
[edit on 7-9-2008 by peacejet]
(added link/trimmed quote)
[edit on 7-9-2008 by Jbird]
