Two asteroid fly-bys for Rosetta ESA PR 15-2004. Today the
Rosetta Science Working Team has made the final selection of the
asteroids that Rosetta will observe at close quarters during its
journey to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Steins and Lutetia
lie in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Rosetta's scientific goals always included the possibility of
studying one or more asteroids from close range. However, only
after Rosetta's launch and its insertion into interplanetary
orbit could the ESA mission managers assess how much fuel was
actually available for fly-bys. Information from the European
Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Germany enabled Rosetta's
Science Working Team to select a pair of asteroids of high
scientific interest, well within the fuel budget. The selection
of these two excellent targets was made possible by the high
accuracy with which the Ariane 5 delivered the spacecraft into
its orbit. This of course leaves sufficient fuel for the core
part of the mission, orbitin