Jan 14 2003
From The Space Library
Arianespace and ESA announced that, because of the failure of Ariane 5 Flight 157, they had postponed the launch of the Rosetta spacecraft. Arianespace had designed Rosetta to rendezvous with the comet Wirtanen, in a mission that would have included a journey lasting eight years, followed by a two-year study of the comet. Rosetta's launch had presented several challenges, requiring the Ariane 5 rocket's upper stage to “undertake its first-ever ballistic coast phase before being ignited, a [2]-hour-long sequence.” Although launch officials had not planned to launch the spacecraft aboard an Ariane 5 ECA, the type of rocket that had exploded shortly after launch in December 2002, Rosetta's launch vehicle was not standard. Arianespace had modified its equipment bay and electrical system. The postponement would cause Rosetta to miss the launch window for the rendezvous with Wirtanen; therefore, mission scientists would search for a new comet for the study and would redesign the mission. (Reuters, “Rosetta Space Launch Set Back by Further Delay,” 15 January 2003."
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