Orbiter Instruments
Introduction
Rosetta is an interplanetary spacecraft whose main objective is to rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In order to investigate the comet nucleus and the gas and dust ejected from the nucleus as the comet approaches the Sun, Rosetta carries a suite of eleven instruments on the comet orbiter and Philae, a lander equipped with a further ten instruments which perform surface measurements. The orbiter instruments combine remote sensing techniques, such as cameras and radio science measurements, with direct sensing systems such as dust and particle analysers. The instruments are provided by collaborative efforts between scientific institutes in ESA member states and the USA. Principal investigators in different European countries and America lead the nationally funded collaborations. | Rosetta Orbiter Instruments | | Instrument | Principal Investigator | | ALICE | Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer | Alan Stern, NASA Science Mission Directorate, Washington, DC, USA | | CONSERT | Comet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radio wave Transmission | Wlodek Kofman, Planetology Laboratory, Grenoble, France | | COSIMA | Cometary Secondary Ion Mass Analyser | Martin Hilchenbach, Max-Planck-Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany | | GIADA | Grain Impact Analyser and Dust Accumulator | Luigi Colangeli, Capodimonte Observatory, Naples, Italy | | MIDAS | Micro-Imaging Dust Analysis System | Willibald Riedler, Space Research Institute Graz, Austria | | MIRO | Microwave Instrument for the Rosetta Orbiter | Samuel Gulkis, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California, USA | | OSIRIS | Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System | Horst Uwe Keller, Max-Planck-Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany | | ROSINA | Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis | Hans Balsiger, University of Bern, Switzerland | | RPC | Rosetta Plasma Consortium | | ICA | Ion Composition Analyser | Rickard Lundin, Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Kiruna, Sweden | | IES | Ion and Electron Sensor | James Burch, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, Texas | | LAP | Langmuir Probe | Anders Eriksson, Swedish Institute of Space Physics, Uppsala, Sweden | | MAG | Fluxgate Magnetometer | Karl-Heinz Glassmeier, Technical University of Braunschweig, Germany | | MIP | Mutual Impedance Probe | Jean Gabriel Trotignon, Environmental Physics and Chemistry Laboratory, Orléans, France | | PIU | Plasma Interface Unit | Christopher Carr, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London, United Kingdom | | | RSI | Radio Science Investigation | Martin Pätzold, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany | | VIRTIS | Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer | Angioletta Coradini, Institute of Space Astrophysics, Rome, Italy |
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Instruments In Brief |
Last Update: 25 May 2010
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