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66-652: Cebreros hosts the Deep Space Antenna 2 , an ESTRACK station for communication with spacecraft for the European Space Agency (ESA). Cebreros is known for being the birthplace of Adolfo Suárez , Prime Minister and leading figure of the Spanish transition . The local football team is CD Cebrereña . Near Cebreros is the former palace of El Quexigal designed by Juan de Herrera on behalf of king Philip II of Spain . This article about

132-457: A 19 km (12 mi) descent with a 208-second thruster burn executed on 29 September 2016 at approximately 20:50  UTC . Its trajectory targeted a site in the Ma'at region near an area of dust- and gas-producing active pits. Impact on the comet's surface occurred 14.5 hours after its descent manoeuvre; the final data packet from Rosetta was transmitted at 10:39:28.895 UTC ( SCET ) by

198-466: A close flyby of asteroid 2867 Šteins on 5 September 2008. Its onboard cameras were used to fine-tune the trajectory, achieving a minimum separation of less than 800 km (500 mi). Onboard instruments measured the asteroid from 4 August to 10 September. Maximum relative speed between the two objects during the flyby was 8.6 km/s (19,000 mph; 31,000 km/h). Rosetta 's third and final flyby of Earth happened on 12 November 2009 at

264-523: A distance of 2,481 km (1,542 mi). On 10 July 2010, Rosetta flew by 21 Lutetia , a large main-belt asteroid , at a minimum distance of 3,168 ± 7.5  km ( 1,969 ± 4.7  mi) at a velocity of 15 kilometres per second (9.3 mi/s). The flyby provided images of up to 60 metres (200 ft) per pixel resolution and covered about 50% of the surface, mostly in the northern hemisphere. The 462 images were obtained in 21 narrow- and broad-band filters extending from 0.24 to 1 μm. Lutetia

330-409: A leak in its reaction control system (RCS). The system, which consists of 24 bipropellant 10- newton thrusters, was responsible for fine tuning the trajectory of Rosetta throughout its journey. The RCS operated at a lower pressure than designed due to the leak. While this may have caused the propellants to mix incompletely and burn 'dirtier' and less efficiently, ESA engineers were confident that

396-649: A location in the province of Ávila, Spain, is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Cebreros Station Cebreros Station (also known as DSA 2 or Deep Space Antenna 2 ) is a European Space Agency, ESTRACK radio antenna station for communication with spacecraft , located about 10 km east of Cebreros and 90 km from Madrid , Spain, operated by the European Space Operations Centre and INTA . A 35-metre diameter antenna that receives and transmit in X- and Ka-bands

462-961: A maximum of approximately 1,500 watts at perihelion , a minimum of 400 watts in hibernation mode at 5.2 AU, and 850 watts when comet operations begin at 3.4 AU. Spacecraft power was controlled by a redundant Terma power module also used in the Mars Express spacecraft, and was stored in four 10- A·h [Li-ion] batteries supplying 28 volts to the bus. Main propulsion comprised 24 paired bipropellant 10  N thrusters, with four pairs of thrusters being used for delta- v burns. The spacecraft carried 1,719.1 kg (3,790 lb) of propellant at launch: 659.6 kg (1,454 lb) of monomethylhydrazine fuel and 1,059.5 kg (2,336 lb) of dinitrogen tetroxide oxidiser, contained in two 1,108-litre (244 imp gal; 293 US gal) grade 5 titanium alloy tanks and providing delta- v of at least 2,300 metres per second (7,500 ft/s) over

528-523: A micro-etched pure nickel prototype of the Rosetta disc donated by the Long Now Foundation . The disc was inscribed with 6,500 pages of language translations. The Rosetta mission achieved many historic firsts. On its way to comet 67P, Rosetta passed through the main asteroid belt , and made the first European close encounter with several of these primitive objects. Rosetta was

594-435: A previously unrecovered image taken by the spacecraft was reported. This image was recovered from three data packets discovered on a server after completion of the mission. While blurry due to data loss, it shows an area of the comet's surface approximately one square meter in size taken from an altitude of 17.9–21.0 m (58.7–68.9 ft), and represents Rosetta 's closest image of the surface. The investigation of

660-546: Is able to withstand a more intense wind. Usually, the antenna is operated remotely from the European Space Operations Center ( ESOC ) located in Darmstadt (Germany). The station is located in a very quiet location, surrounded by pine and rockrose. Apart from its privileged situation, the choice fell on Cebreros because it has the necessary geographical coordinates (120 degrees east or west of

726-505: Is bound in "very large macromolecular compounds", analogous to those found in carbonaceous chondrite meteorites. However, no hydrated minerals were detected, suggesting no link with carbonaceous chondrites. In turn, the Philae lander's COSAC instrument detected organic molecules in the comet's atmosphere as it descended to its surface. Measurements by the COSAC and Ptolemy instruments on

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792-486: Is generated from a supernova , the circular polarisation of that radiation could then destroy one type of "handed" molecules. The supernova could wipe out one type of molecules while also flinging the other surviving molecules into space, where they could eventually end up on a planet. The mission has yielded a significant science return, collecting a wealth of data from the nucleus and its environment at various levels of cometary activity. The VIRTIS spectrometer on board

858-716: Is located at the site. Station code is "CEB". 20 kW CW High Power Amplifier (HPA) it was created by Rheinmetall Italia SpA (Italy). The monitoring and control system was implemented by Microsis srl (Italy). It provides daily support to Lisa Pathfinder, Mars Express and Gaia . It also provided support for Rosetta . Two sister stations are New Norcia Station in Australia, and Malargüe Station in Argentina . Until 2002, ESA lacked its own means to communicate with ships destined to other planets, or in very distant orbits and depended on NASA's network of listeners to receive

924-547: The Catalina Sky Survey and was given the provisional designation 2007 VN 84 . Calculations showed that it would pass very close to Earth, which led to speculation that it could impact Earth. However, astronomer Denis Denisenko recognised that the trajectory matched that of Rosetta , which the Minor Planet Center confirmed in an editorial release on 9 November. The spacecraft performed

990-536: 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 was hoped that these spacecraft would result in better understanding of comets and the early Solar System . In a more direct analogy to its namesake, the Rosetta spacecraft also carried

1056-482: The Rosetta orbiter dispatched the Philae lander for the first controlled touchdown on a comet nucleus. The robotic lander's instruments obtained the first images from a comet's surface and made the first in situ analysis of its composition. The Rosetta bus was a 2.8 × 2.1 × 2.0 m (9.2 × 6.9 × 6.6 ft) central frame and aluminium honeycomb platform. Its total mass

1122-494: The Rosetta orbiter, which featured 12 instruments, and the Philae lander, with nine additional instruments. The Rosetta mission orbited Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko for 17 months and was designed to complete the most detailed study of a comet ever attempted. The spacecraft was controlled from the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), in Darmstadt , Germany. The planning for the operation of

1188-434: The Rosetta spacecraft has provided evidence of nonvolatile organic macromolecular compounds everywhere on the surface of comet 67P with little to no water ice visible. Preliminary analyses strongly suggest the carbon is present as polyaromatic organic solids mixed with sulfides and iron-nickel alloys. Solid organic compounds were also found in the dust particles emitted by the comet; the carbon in this organic material

1254-438: The "head" of the comet, as the lander's destination. Philae detached from Rosetta on 12 November 2014 at 08:35 UTC, and approached 67P at a relative speed of about 1 m/s (3.6 km/h; 2.2 mph). It initially landed on 67P at 15:33 UTC, but bounced twice, coming to rest at 17:33 UTC. Confirmation of contact with 67P reached Earth at 16:03 UTC. On contact with the surface, two harpoons were to be fired into

1320-671: The ESA's Horizon 2000 programme, after SOHO  / Cluster and XMM-Newton . On 6 August 2014, the spacecraft reached the comet and performed a series of manoeuvers to eventually orbit the comet at distances of 30 to 10 kilometres (19 to 6 mi). On 12 November, its lander module Philae performed the first successful landing on a comet, though its battery power ran out two days later. Communications with Philae were briefly restored in June and July 2015, but due to diminishing solar power, Rosetta 's communications module with

1386-532: The New Norcia station in Australia) and the lack of radioelectric interference produced by mobile telephony. At first, the option of Villafranca del Castillo ( Madrid ) was considered, where ESA already has a Space Astronomy Center ( ESAC ), but it was discarded due to its accelerated urban development, which would have been, without a doubt, a safe source of interference. Another argument in favor of Cebreros

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1452-558: The OSIRIS instrument and was received at the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, at 11:19:36.541 UTC. The spacecraft's estimated speed at the time of impact was 3.2 km/h (2.0 mph; 89 cm/s), and its touchdown location, named Sais by the operations team after the Rosetta Stone's original temple home, is believed to be only 40 m (130 ft) off-target. The final complete image transmitted by

1518-470: The RWA using an on-board oil reservoir, but in each case noise levels were only temporarily lowered, and the RWA was turned off in mid-2010 after the flyby of asteroid Lutetia to avoid possible failure. Shortly after this, RWA C also began showing evidence of elevated friction. Relubrication was also performed on this RWA, and methods were found to temporarily increase its operating temperature to better improve

1584-459: The Sun as thought earlier — are responsible for the degradation of water and carbon dioxide molecules released from the comet nucleus into its coma . As the orbit of comet 67P took it farther from the Sun, the amount of sunlight reaching Rosetta 's solar panels decreased. While it would have been possible to put Rosetta into a second hibernation phase during the comet's aphelion, there

1650-439: The X band. Its target has an error of only six millidegrees (which is ten times more accurate than the usual monitoring antennas of 15 meters in diameter). It has 250 temperature sensors distributed throughout the structure, so that it can auto-adjust automatically in case of expansion and contraction of the material due to meteorological changes. With respect to the New Norcia antenna, it is also faster in azimuth and elevation, and

1716-749: The antenna. The first director was Spanish Valeriano Claros. It covered interplanetary missions, such as the Rosetta space probe, sent into space in 2004 to land for the first time on a comet, the Churyumov-Gerasimenko , after a ten-year star voyage, and the routine operations of the Venus Express mission, and is used currently as support for the Mars Express . The station participates in missions as BepiColombo , Herschel , Planck , LISA Pathfinder , Gaia and Euclid space telescopes. Rosetta (spacecraft) Rosetta

1782-542: The atoms arrange in orientation in relation to the carbon core of the molecule. Most asymmetrical molecules are oriented in approximately equal numbers of left- and right-handed configurations ( chirality ), and the primarily left-handed structure of essential amino acids used by living organisms is unique. One hypothesis that will be tested was proposed in 1983 by William A. Bonner and Edward Rubenstein , Stanford University professors emeritus of chemistry and medicine respectively. They conjectured that when spiralling radiation

1848-547: The changes made to launch time and target, the mission profile remained almost identical. Both co-discoverers of the comet, Klim Churyumov and Svetlana Gerasimenko , were present at the spaceport during the launch. To achieve the required velocity to rendezvous with 67P, Rosetta used gravity assist manoeuvres to accelerate throughout the inner Solar System. The comet's orbit was known before Rosetta 's launch, from ground-based measurements, to an accuracy of approximately 100 km (62 mi). Information gathered by

1914-552: The comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, with a revised launch date of 26 February 2004 and comet rendezvous in 2014. The larger mass and the resulting increased impact velocity made modification of the landing gear necessary. After two scrubbed launch attempts, Rosetta was launched on 2 March 2004 at 07:17  UTC from the Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana, using Ariane 5 G+ carrier rocket. Aside from

1980-510: The comet to prevent the lander from bouncing off, as the comet's escape velocity is only around 1 m/s (3.6 km/h; 2.2 mph). Analysis of telemetry indicated that the surface at the initial touchdown site is relatively soft, covered with a layer of granular material about 0.82 feet (0.25 meters) deep, and that the harpoons had not fired upon landing. After landing on the comet, Philae had been scheduled to commence its science mission, which included: After bouncing, Philae settled in

2046-439: The comet's nucleus and coma cloud of gas and dust, helping assess the contribution comets made to the beginnings of life on Earth. Before succumbing to falling power levels, Philae 's COSAC instrument was able to detect organic molecules in the comet's atmosphere. Upon landing on the comet, Philae should have also tested some hypotheses as to why essential amino acids are almost all "left-handed", which refers to how

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2112-535: The comet's nucleus has no magnetic field, and that the field originally detected by Rosetta is likely caused by the solar wind . The isotopic signature of water vapour from comet 67P, as determined by the Rosetta spacecraft, is substantially different from that found on Earth. That is, the ratio of deuterium to hydrogen in the water from the comet was determined to be three times that found for terrestrial water. This makes it very unlikely that water found on Earth came from comets such as comet 67P, according to

2178-599: The comet. The lander sits on its side wedged into a dark crevice of the comet, explaining the lack of electrical power to establish proper communication with the orbiter. During the 1986 approach of Halley's Comet , international space probes were sent to explore the comet, most prominent among them being ESA 's Giotto . After the probes returned valuable scientific information, it became obvious that follow-ons were needed that would shed more light on cometary composition and answer new questions. Both ESA and NASA started cooperatively developing new probes. The NASA project

2244-537: The course of the mission. Propellant pressurisation was provided by two 68-litre (15 imp gal; 18 US gal) high-pressure helium tanks. Rosetta was built in a clean room according to COSPAR rules, but " sterilisation [was] generally not crucial since comets are usually regarded as objects where you can find prebiotic molecules , that is, molecules that are precursors of life, but not living microorganisms ", according to Gerhard Schwehm, Rosetta 's project scientist. The total cost of

2310-495: The data collected by them. The mobile dish of the antenna is 35 meters in diameter. The entire structure measures 40 meters in height and weighs 620 tons. The foundations begin at 20 meters deep. Much of the machinery responsible for moving the antenna is underground. It has more data acquisition capacity than the New Norcia antenna, since it receives and transmits information in the Ka band (31.8 - 32.3 GHz) as well as reception in

2376-602: The end of September 2016 after two years of operations at the comet. All stations and the briefing room, we've just had loss of signal at the expected time. This is another outstanding performance by flight dynamics. So we'll be listening for the signal from Rosetta for another 24 hours, but we don't expect any. This is the end of the Rosetta mission. Thank you, and goodbye. —Sylvain Lodiot, Rosetta Spacecraft Operations Manager, European Space Operations Centre Rosetta began

2442-470: The first spacecraft to fly close to Jupiter 's orbit using solar cells as its main power source. Rosetta was the first spacecraft to orbit a comet nucleus , and was the first spacecraft to fly alongside a comet as it headed towards the inner Solar System . It became the first spacecraft to examine at close proximity the activity of a frozen comet as it is warmed by the Sun . Shortly after its arrival at 67P,

2508-424: The flyby was a mere 250 kilometres (160 mi). During that encounter, the solar panels could not be used since the craft was in the planet's shadow, where it would not receive any solar light for 15 minutes, causing a dangerous shortage of power. The craft was therefore put into standby mode, with no possibility to communicate, flying on batteries that were originally not designed for this task. This Mars manoeuvre

2574-435: The four RWAs to operate throughout Rosetta 's mission at 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko despite occasional anomalies in their friction plots and a heavy workload imposed by numerous orbital changes. In August 2014, Rosetta rendezvoused with the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P) and commenced a series of manoeuvres that took it on two successive triangular paths, averaging 100 and 50 kilometres (62 and 31 mi) from

2640-511: The ground testing were applied to all four RWAs, such as increasing their operating temperatures and limiting their wheel speeds to below 1000 rpm. After these fixes, the RWAs showed nearly identical performance data. Three RWAs were kept operational, while one of the malfunctioning RWAs was held in reserve. Additionally, new on-board software was developed to allow Rosetta to operate with only two active RWAs if necessary. These changes allowed

2706-470: The lander was turned off on 27 July 2016. On 30 September 2016, the Rosetta spacecraft ended its mission by hard-landing on the comet in its Ma'at region. The probe was named after the Rosetta Stone , a stele of Egyptian origin featuring a decree in three scripts. The lander was named after the Philae obelisk , which bears a bilingual Greek and Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription. Rosetta

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2772-399: The long period of the mission and for special knowledge to be maintained and passed on to future team members. In particular, several younger scientists were brought on as principal science investigators, and regular training sessions were conducted. The probe was named after the Rosetta Stone , a stele of Egyptian origin featuring a decree in three scripts. The lander was named after

2838-410: The mission was about €1.3 billion (US$ 1.8 billion). Rosetta was set to be launched on 12 January 2003 to rendezvous with the comet 46P/Wirtanen in 2011. This plan was abandoned after the failure of an Ariane 5 ECA carrier rocket during Hot Bird 7 's launch on 11 December 2002, grounding it until the cause of the failure could be determined. In May 2003, a new plan was formed to target

2904-632: The nucleus was done by three optical spectrometers , one microwave radio antenna and one radar : Previous observations have shown that comets contain complex organic compounds . These are the elements that make up nucleic acids and amino acids , essential ingredients for life as we know it. Comets are thought to have delivered a vast quantity of water to Earth, and they may have also seeded Earth with organic molecules . Rosetta and Philae also searched for organic molecules, nucleic acids (the building blocks of DNA and RNA ) and amino acids (the building blocks of proteins) by sampling and analysing

2970-587: The nucleus, whose segments are hyperbolic escape trajectories alternating with thruster burns. After closing to within about 30 km (19 mi) from the comet on 10 September, the spacecraft entered actual orbit about it. The surface layout of 67P was unknown before Rosetta 's arrival. The orbiter mapped the comet in anticipation of detaching its lander. By 25 August 2014, five potential landing sites had been determined. On 15 September 2014, ESA announced Site J, named Agilkia in honour of Agilkia Island by an ESA public contest and located on

3036-420: The onboard cameras beginning at a distance of 24 million kilometres (15,000,000 mi) were processed at ESA's Operation Centre to refine the position of the comet in its orbit to a few kilometres. The first Earth flyby was on 4 March 2005. On 25 February 2007, the craft was scheduled for a low-altitude flyby of Mars , to correct the trajectory. This was not without risk, as the estimated altitude of

3102-887: The scientific payload, together with the data retrieval, calibration, archiving and distribution, was performed from the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), in Villanueva de la Cañada , near Madrid , Spain. It has been estimated that in the decade preceding 2014, some 2,000 people assisted in the mission in some capacity. In 2007, Rosetta made a Mars gravity assist (flyby) on its way to Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko. The spacecraft also performed two asteroid flybys. The craft completed its flyby of asteroid 2867 Šteins in September 2008 and of 21 Lutetia in July 2010. Later, on 20 January 2014, Rosetta

3168-470: The scientists. On 22 January 2015, NASA reported that, between June and August 2014, the rate at which water vapour was released by the comet increased up to tenfold. On 2 June 2015, NASA reported that the Alice spectrograph on Rosetta determined that electrons within 1 km (0.6 mi) above the comet nucleus — produced from photoionization of water molecules , and not direct photons from

3234-406: The shadow of a cliff, canted at an angle of around 30 degrees. This made it unable to adequately collect solar power, and it lost contact with Rosetta when its batteries ran out after three days, well before much of the planned science objectives could be attempted. Contact was briefly and intermittently reestablished several months later at various times between 13 June and 9 July, before contact

3300-468: The spacecraft of the comet was taken by its OSIRIS instrument at an altitude of 23.3–26.2 m (76–86 ft) about 10 seconds before impact, showing an area 0.96 m (3.1 ft) across. Rosetta 's computer included commands to send it into safe mode upon detecting that it had hit the comet's surface, turning off its radio transmitter and rendering it inert in accordance with International Telecommunication Union rules. On 28 September 2017,

3366-524: The spacecraft would have sufficient fuel reserves to allow for the successful completion of the mission. Prior to Rosetta 's deep space hibernation period, two of the spacecraft's four reaction wheels began exhibiting increased levels of "bearing friction noise". Increased friction levels in Reaction Wheel Assembly (RWA) B were noted after its September 2008 encounter with asteroid Šteins. Two attempts were made to relubricate

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3432-475: The study of data gathered will continue for decades to come. One of the first discoveries was that the magnetic field of 67P oscillated at 40–50 millihertz . A German composer and sound designer created an artistic rendition from the measured data to make it audible. Although it is a natural phenomenon, it has been described as a "song" and has been compared to Continuum for harpsichord by György Ligeti . However, results from Philae 's landing show that

3498-558: The transfer of oil from its reservoir. In addition, the reaction wheel's speed range was decreased to limit lifetime accumulated rotations. These changes resulted in RWA ;C 's performance stabilising. During the spacecraft's Deep Space Hibernation flight phase, engineers performed ground testing on a flight spare RWA at the European Space Operations Centre . After Rosetta exited hibernation in January 2014, lessons learned from

3564-403: Was a space probe built by the European Space Agency launched on 2 March 2004. Along with Philae , its lander module, Rosetta performed a detailed study of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P). During its journey to the comet, the spacecraft performed flybys of Earth , Mars , and the asteroids 21 Lutetia and 2867 Šteins . It was launched as the third cornerstone mission of

3630-495: Was also observed by the visible–near-infrared imaging spectrometer VIRTIS, and measurements of the magnetic field and plasma environment were taken as well. After leaving its hibernation mode in January 2014 and getting closer to the comet, Rosetta began a series of eight burns in May 2014. These reduced the relative velocity between the spacecraft and 67P from 775 to 7.9 m/s (2,543 to 26 ft/s). In 2006, Rosetta suffered

3696-496: Was approximately 3,000 kg (6,600 lb), which included the 100 kg (220 lb) Philae lander and 165 kg (364 lb) of science instruments. The Payload Support Module was mounted on top of the spacecraft and housed the scientific instruments, while the Bus Support Module was on the bottom and contained spacecraft support subsystems. Heaters placed around the spacecraft kept its systems warm while it

3762-668: Was distant from the Sun. Rosetta 's communications suite included a 2.2 m (7.2 ft) steerable high-gain parabolic dish antenna, a 0.8 m (2.6 ft) fixed-position medium-gain antenna, and two omnidirectional low-gain antennas. Electrical power for the spacecraft came from two solar arrays totalling 64 square metres (690 sq ft). Each solar array was subdivided into five solar panels, with each panel being 2.25 × 2.736 m (7.38 × 8.98 ft). The individual solar cells were made of silicon, 200 μm thick, and 61.95 × 37.75 mm (2.44 × 1.49 in). The solar arrays generated

3828-527: Was infeasible with the existing ESA budget, so the mission was redesigned and subsequently approved by the ESA, with the final flight plan resembling the cancelled CRAF mission: an asteroid flyby followed by a comet rendezvous with in-situ examination, including a lander. After the spacecraft launch, Gerhard Schwehm was named mission manager; he retired in March 2014. The Rosetta mission included generational team management; this allowed mission continuity over

3894-526: Was launched on 2 March 2004 from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou , French Guiana , on an Ariane 5 rocket and reached Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 7 May 2014. It performed a series of manoeuvres to enter orbit between then and 6 August 2014, when it became the first spacecraft to orbit a comet. ( Previous missions had conducted successful flybys of seven other comets.) It was one of ESA's Horizon 2000 cornerstone missions . The spacecraft consisted of

3960-475: Was lost once again. There was no communication afterwards, and the transmitter to communicate with Philae was switched off in July 2016 to reduce power consumption of the probe. The precise location of the lander was discovered in September 2016 when Rosetta came closer to the comet and took high-resolution pictures of its surface. Knowing its exact location provides information needed to put Philae's two days of science into proper context. Researchers expect

4026-454: Was no assurance that enough power would be available to run the spacecraft's heaters to keep it from freezing. To guarantee a maximum science return, mission managers made the decision to instead guide Rosetta down to the comet's surface and end the mission on impact, gathering photographs and instrument readings along the way. On 23 June 2015, at the same time as a mission extension was confirmed, ESA announced that end of mission would occur at

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4092-441: Was taken out of a 31-month hibernation mode as it approached Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Rosetta 's Philae lander successfully made the first soft landing on a comet nucleus when it touched down on Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 12 November 2014. On 5 September 2016, ESA announced that the lander was discovered by the narrow-angle camera aboard Rosetta as the orbiter made a low, 2.7 km (1.7 mi) pass over

4158-565: Was the Comet Rendezvous Asteroid Flyby (CRAF) mission. The ESA project was the follow-on Comet Nucleus Sample Return (CNSR) mission. Both missions were to share the Mariner Mark II spacecraft design, thus minimising costs. In 1992, after NASA cancelled CRAF due to budgetary limitations, ESA decided to develop a CRAF-style project on its own. By 1993 it was evident that the ambitious sample return mission

4224-407: Was the responsibility of a consortium led by the companies SED Systems (Canada) and by Vertex Antennentechnik (Germany). The Spanish companies ESTEYCO and NECSO were responsible for the infrastructure of the antenna tower, while LV Salamanca was responsible for the infrastructure and the remodeling of the building. The cost of Cebreros station has been about 30 million euros, of which 22 have been for

4290-469: Was therefore nicknamed "The Billion Euro Gamble". The flyby was successful, with Rosetta even returning detailed images of the surface and atmosphere of the planet, and the mission continued as planned. The second Earth flyby was on 13 November 2007 at a distance of 5,700 km (3,500 mi). In observations made on 7 and 8 November, Rosetta was briefly mistaken for a near-Earth asteroid about 20 m (66 ft) in diameter by an astronomer of

4356-745: Was to have the facilities that NASA used in the 1960s and 1970s to monitor the Apollo spacecraft. NASA abandoned the use of this station in 1983 for budgetary reasons, and ceded the facilities to the Spanish government. The search for the site for the Cebreros station began in April 2002, although construction did not start until January 2003. It lasted a little over two years (it ended in August 2005, and since then it has been running on tests) .The construction

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