2 ms·
What a fascinating, seeming convoluted (but clearly intentional and purposeful), flight path. Fascinating stuff, and it's amazing it has that much residual thru
by personZ 12y ago
What a fascinating, seeming convoluted (but clearly intentional and purposeful), flight path. Fascinating stuff, and it's amazing it has that much residual thrust available.
- Sharlin 12y agoAFAIK they're only doing it for a while to measure 67P's mass and density distribution, so they can calculate a "real" orbit for Rosetta later (but it will still require regular adjustments due to the highly irregular shape of the comet).
- Gravityloss 12y agoThis is a good illustration. https://twitter.com/rowhoop/status/496920940539052032/photo/1 https://twitter.com/rowhoop/status/496920940539052032/photo/...
- exDM69 12y ago> and it's amazing it has that much residual thrust available. We're not talking about propellant residue, that was very well planned ahead. The spacecraft carried about 1.5 tons of propellant at launch. That gives the spacecraft a delta-v budget that is several kilometers per second. The next thruster burns (on the triangular "hyperbolic orbits") will be tiny, in the order of centimeters per second.