The Rosetta evening at the Cité de l'Espace

On Monday evening, barely 48 hours after the Rosetta probe’s flyby of the asteroid Lutetia, experts disclosed the initial scientific feedback from this outstanding event.

Find out the details of this special evening organized at the Cité de l'Espace in Toulouse (video below, in French):


This presentation took the form of a discussion with Philippe Gaudon (project leader at the CNES for French participation in the Rosetta mission), Laurent Jorda (astronomer at the Marseille-Provence Observatory and specialist as regards Rosetta’s Osiris camera), Sylvestre Maurice and Lionel d'Uston (astrophysicists at the CESR) and Patrice Villefranche (representative of EADS Astrium, main manufacturing contractor for Rosetta). The evening was hosted by Philippe Droneau from the Cité de l'Espace.

The participants deciphered the first images received from the biggest asteroid that has been flown by to date and also set out the challenges and issues of this long-term mission; Rosetta was launched in March 2004 and will not reach its destination around the nucleus of the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko until May 2014! This will be the first probe to go into orbit around a comet, to set a lander down on its surface and to follow the changes as it “awakens” with the approach of the Sun.

This evening was organized by the Cité de l'Espace, the CNES, and the 3AF, in partnership with the CESR, the OAMP and EADS Astrium.

Published on 12 July 2010