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Artist's impression of the Rosetta spacecraft flying by Mars during the gravity assist manoeuvre. Credit: ESA SYDNEY: The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft is gearing up for a Mars flyby next week, in its mission to unlock the secrets of the early universe. The Rosetta probe will use Mars' gravity to pick up speed, setting it on track for its 2014 climax: a rendezvous with the comet 67 P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, during which it will release a small lander onto the comet's icy nucleus. "With Rosetta now three years into its epic 10 year journey, this flyby is an important milestone for the spacecraft," said Keith Mason of the British government's Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council in Wiltshire, England, one of the groups participating in the mission. "Not only will it help set [Rosetta] on its correct path but it provides a further opportunity to find out more about Mars from a different perspective." During the flyby, high resolution cameras and instruments will be used to make a number of observations of Mars from a distance of only 250 km, inside the Red Planet's ionised outer atmosphere. "Rosetta will use its imaging system and imaging spectrometers to gather data about the surface and atmosphere of Mars and its chemical composition," explained project member Andrew Coates, of University College London's Mullard Space Science Laboratory in the U.K.. "It will also collect data about the atmosphere's interaction with the solar wind and the Martian radiation environment, and image the two natural satellites of Mars: Phobos and Deimos." The spacecraft will be in position at about 5pm on Sunday, February 25th, Sydney time, to observe the martian moon Phobos appearing from behind the planet. This observation will last for nearly two hours and will be followed by an imaging sequence of the Red Planet which, according to researchers, will be at a resolution 10 times better than the Hubble Space Telescope can achieve. Launched in March 2004, the three tonne spacecraft relies on a series of planned 'gravity assist manoeuvres' past the Earth and Mars to help it meet its comet rendezvous. As Rosetta shoots past Mars, it will use the Red Planet's gravity to gain speed and alter course, 'slingshotting' off in a new direction. Close approaches are often used by interplanetary craft to alter course; the U.S. Voyager 2 probe repeatedly used gravity assist maoeuvres to change course, bringing it close to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune on its way out of the Solar System. The Mars flyby is the second such manoeuvre that Rosetta has made - following on from an Earth flyby in March 2005. Rosetta will make two more Earth flybys, one this November and one in 2009. The climax of Rosetta's mission is still seven years away, however. In 2014, the spacecraft will enter orbit around 67 P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a dim comet that swoops toward the sun every six-and-a-half years. The Sun's radiation will not yet have heated the comet sufficiently to form the familiar comet's 'tail' of vapourised water - it will be a dark and dirty snowball, drifting through space. On approach, Rosetta will deploy its Philae lander, which will drop onto the comet and take detailed measurements. According to researchers, comets - among the oldest and most primitive bodies in the Solar System - provide a window onto the past. By testing the complex organic molecules found on the Comet, Rosetta and Philae may be able to determine whether such objects played a role in the origin of life through collisions with an early Earth. Other molecules found on the comet will be analysed to determine their possible contribution to forming the Earth's oceans and atmosphere, the researchers said. More information: The International Rosetta Mission homepage The Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council University College London’s Mullard Space Science Laboratory 
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