Spacecraft and payload activities
A number of activities are planned during the flyby. A few hours before
the closest approach the spacecraft will be pointed to the Moon. The remote
sensing instruments and some other instruments are switched on for calibration
purposes. After the flyby, one of the two Navigation Cameras will be switched
in the so-called asteroid tracking mode, where - rather than an asteroid
- the Moon will be tracked by the camera. Rosetta is scheduled to flyby
two asteroids (Steins in Sep 2008 and Lutetia in Jul 2010), where the tracking
mode will be used to keep the spacecraft instruments centered on the asteroid.
The tracking on the Moon around this Earth Flyby will act as a test of
this mode.
page prepared
by Detlef Koschny, 03 Feb 2005, last update 02 Mar 2005.