3 ms·
Yes! I noticed (visually) how close Rosetta came to Earth a few times. I read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_assist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity
by dj-wonk 13y ago
Yes! I noticed (visually) how close Rosetta came to Earth a few times. I read https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_assist https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gravity_assist but didn't get a sense for how close a spacecraft may get to a planet (other than not so close as to interact with the atmosphere).
- dj-wonk 13y agoThe gravity assists (and more) are detailed here: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_factsheet http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rose...
- ColinWright 13y agoOn 2005-03-04 or so it was between 300 and 14,000 km. For comparison, the Moon varies between 360,000 and 420,000 km. That's after a year in flight. On 2007-11-14 it was about 110,000 km from Earth, less than 1/3 of the distance of the Moon. On 2009-11-13 it was 275,000 km. These are over-estimates, but broadly right.