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UK funding (£7,399.00): Participation in the CONSERT instrument on Rosetta in order to inform the science team of up-to- date cometary nucleus models. Ukri11 Feb 2010 UK Research and Innovation, United Kingdom
Overview
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Participation in the CONSERT instrument on Rosetta in order to inform the science team of up-to- date cometary nucleus models.
| Abstract | The Rosetta mission is one of the cornerstone missions of the European Space Agency, it principal aim being to insert a spacecraft in orbit about a cometary nucleus and to place a lander on the surface. Both the orbiter and the lander would carry several independent instruments. One of the instruments, with components on both the orbiter and the lander is The COmet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radiowave Transmission (CONSERT). The main scientific aim of the CONSERT experiment is to determine the structure and composition of the deep interior of the nucleus. It will do this by transmitting a radio wave from the orbiter which will pass through the nucleus and be received by the lande (Philae). On receiving the initial wave, the lander will transmit a second wave that will again pass through the nucleus and be received by the orbiter. From the measured time of transmission and the power loss, deductions can be made about the composition (refractive index) of the interior as well as the number of internal reflections. This will be repeated many times. The mission was designed on the assumption that the target was comet 46P/Wirtanen. Delay in the launch meant that the window for a flight to comet 46P/Wirtanen was lost and a new target, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, had to be selected. For many of the instruments, this was a minor change, but for CONSERT, as 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is a larger comet than 46P/Wirtanen, it was rather more significant. It is very marginal as to whether or not the radio waves at the selected frequency (which can not now be changed) can penetrate all the way through the longer chords of the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (which is also quite elongated), though this can only be accurately determined when better models of the interior of the nucleus are available.Whether or not waves will penetrate along all chords, for the CONSERT instruments, having the lander placed near the ends of some of the shorter chords would be beneficial. However, this raises problems regarding the dust environment, since such a landing requires the deepest penetration through any surrounding dust. Hence the CONSERT team require the most detailed knowledge possible regarding the nucleus of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko before encounter in order to maximize the scientific from the instrument. This is required in order both to determine whether transmission along the longer chords is likely to be possible and to estimate the danger from landing near the end of one of the shorter chords. Also, in order to obtain the composition and structure from the measured data, some inversion methodology and modeling is required. This also in turn requires the best possible models of a comet nucleus. This can be obtained both from direct observations of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko when the observing geometry is favourable and also from the study of comets of a similar size on similar orbits. Information regarding dust ejected from comets can be obtained from the study of meteor streams. The CONSERT team as a whole is not expert enough to carry out this modeling. The proposer, who has been a Co-Investigator on CONSERT since it was first selected in the mid 90's and Professor Levasser-Regourd are only two cometary/meteor scientists amongst the Co-I's capable of doing this. This proposal will allow the CONSERT team to be as well-informed as is possible regarding cometary nuclei. Funding is not being sought to carry out the actual research that is necessary to fulfill the above task, only travel costs to allow the proposer to attend CONSERT related workshops and meetings so that the CONSERT team is kept full aware of developments and implications. |
| Category | Research Grant |
| Reference | ST/G002045/1 |
| Status | Closed |
| Funded period start | 11/02/2010 |
| Funded period end | 31/03/2012 |
| Funded value | £7,399.00 |
| Source | https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=ST%2FG002045%2F1 |
Participating Organisations
| Queen Mary University of London |
The filing refers to a past date, and does not necessarily reflect the current state. The current state is available on the following page: Queen Mary University of London, London.
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