Sep 5 2008
From The Space Library
ESA’s space probe Rosetta flew within 800 kilometers (497.10 miles) of asteroid 2867 Steins, travelling at speeds up to 8.6 kilometers per second (5.34 miles per second). Measuring only 4.6 kilometers (2.86 miles) in diameter, Steins is an irregularly shaped, E-type asteroid, located 360 million kilometers (223,693,629 miles) from Earth. From 4 August 2008 until 4 September 2008, Rosetta had observed Steins with its Osiris camera and two other cameras. ESA investigators had turned off the Osiris camera as the probe approached the asteroid, but 15 other instruments, including the Philae lander magnetometer, remained operational, collecting data about Steins. The instruments gathered data about Stein’s orbital motion, rotation, shape, and density. Additionally, Rosetta observed the asteroid’s surface, gathering information about its age, terrain, chemical and mineralogical composition, and weathering from solar wind. Rosetta had launched on 2 March 2004 for a planned 11.5-year mission that would ultimately take it to the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. ESA had scheduled Rosetta to continue observing Steins until 10 September 2008. Through the study of asteroids, scientists hoped to gain a better understanding of the early history of the solar system and planetary evolution.
ESA, “Encounter of a Different Kind: Rosetta Observes Asteroid at Close Quarters,” news release 37-2008, 6 September 2008, http://www.esa.int/esaCP/Pr_37_2008_p_EN.html (accessed 26 July 2011); Peter B. de Selding, “Despite Glitch, European Spacecraft’s Asteroid Flyby a Success,” Space.com, 6 September 2008, http://www.space.com/5809-glitch-european-spacecraft-asteroid-flyby-success.html (accessed 27 July 2011).
ESA’s first ATV, known as Jules Verne, undocked from the ISS at 23:29 (CEST). The ATV, which had launched on 9 March 2008, had carried 6 tonnes (6.6 tons or 13,227.74 pounds) of supplies to the ISS, including clothing, food, oxygen, propellants, water, and other dry cargo. The US$1.9 billion craft had remained docked at the ISS for six months, serving as an extra room. While there, the ATV had boosted the ISS’s orbit four times to counter residual atmospheric drag. Additionally, on 27 August 2008, the ATV had performed an avoidance maneuver to take the ISS out of the path of debris from an old satellite. Before Jules Verne’s departure, ISS crew members had loaded it with 2.5 tonnes (2,500 kilograms or 2.76 tons) of trash. ESA had scheduled the ATV to enter a controlled destructive reentry of Earth’s atmosphere on 29 September 2008.
ESA, “ESA’s ATV Successfully Undocks from International Space Station,” news release 36-2008, 5 September 2008, http://www.esa.int/esaCP/Pr_36_2008_p_EN.html (accessed 26 July 2011); ESA, “Successful Re-entry Marks Bright Future for ATV,” news release 41-2008, 29 September 2008, http://www.esa.int/esaCP/Pr_41_2008_p_EN.html (accessed 26 July 2011); Tariq Malik, “European Cargo Ship Departs Space Station,” Space.com, 6 September 2008, http://www.space.com/5810-european-cargo-ship-departs-space-station.html (accessed 29 July 2011).
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