Rosetta Spaceflight
Rosetta Spaceflight
This Demonstration shows an animation of the flight of the Rosetta spacecraft's mission to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. This spacecraft used a technique called gravitational assist three times with the Earth and once with Mars. Closest approach to comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko is scheduled for May 2014. The spacecraft made flybys past two asteroids: (2867) Steins on September 05, 2008 and (21) Lutetia on July 10, 2010.
The orbits of the planets have the following colors: Mercury: orange, Venus: brown, Earth: blue, Mars: red, Jupiter: brown. The orbit of the comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko is white (or black, depending on the background color). The two asteroids have these colors: Steins: pink, Lutetia: cyan.