Successful Rosetta Swing-by -- Next Stop Earth

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft successfully completed a swing-by of Mars in the early hours of Sunday morning (February 25). Not only did this mark an important milestone on the spacecraft's 7.1 billion km journey to comet Churyumov Gerasimenko but it provided a unique opportunity to gather further scientific data and images from the Red Planet, scientists say.

The critical gravity assist maneuver around Mars has helped Rosetta change direction – putting it on the correct track towards Earth its next destination planet whose gravitational energy Rosetta will exploit in November this year to gain acceleration and continue on its 10-year journey to the comet which it will reach in 2014.

Mission controllers at ESOC, ESA's Space Operations Centre in Germany confirmed that Rosetta had successfully completed the swing-by. At its closest approach Rosetta passed the surface of Mars at a distance of 250 km (155 miles) travelling at a mere 10.1 km/second relative to the center of the planet.

During the swing by there was a 25 minute period when Rosetta passed into the shadow of Mars denying the probe the ability to generate power using its solar arrays. At this time the spacecraft was put into "eclipse mode" with no science operations taking place on the orbiter instruments, mission scientists say.

However, during the lead up to the closest approach and after the eclipse period the flyby presented scientists with a golden opportunity to calibrate the payload with instruments on other orbiting spacecraft such as Mars Express and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Prior to the orbiter's instruments being switched off the Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System (OSIRIS) captured some detailed images showing the atmospheric features of Mars, including cloud systems above the North polar cap, the scientists say.

Professor Keith Mason, CEO from the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC), says, "Rosetta has provided some amazing images of Mars from a completely different perspective. Data gathered during the swing-by will complement that collected by other current missions enabling us to build up a comprehensive picture of the make up of Mars."

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