ROSETTA

The mission goal was originally set for a rendezvous with comet 46 P/Wirtanen. After postponement of the original launch a new target was set: comet 67 P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

The Rosetta probe has been launched in february 2004, and will reach the 67 P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet in 2014 (re-scheduled mission after the launch delay in 2003).  The main goal of the mission is to study the physics of the comet from its inactive phase (rendez-vous at 3 astronomical units from the Sun in november 2014) to the maximal activity period (arrival at the perihelion in 2015). A part of the probe will stay in orbit around the nucleus, while the other will land to proceed to in-situ experiments.

IAS is responsible for the panoramic imaging and infrared microscope systems on the lander (CIVA experiment) and belongs to the team in charge of the mass spectrometer (COSIMA) and the spectral imager (VIRTIS) onboard the orbiter.

Contacts : Jean-Pierre Bibring, Yves Langevin