European comet orbiter/landing mission.

The International Rosetta Mission was approved in November 1993 by ESA's Science Program Committee. The original goal was to rendezvous with comet 46P/Wirtanen. After technical problems led to the launch window for this comet being missed in January 2003, Rosetta was instead launched toward Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko 14 months later. To gain enough energy to reach its target, one Mars and three Earth gravity assists would be required. At least one, and possibly more, asteroids would be flown by during the long flight to the comet. The mission profile was as follows:

• Launch: March 2004
• First Earth gravity assist March: 2005
• Mars gravity assist March: 2007
• Second Earth gravity assist: November 2007
• Third Earth gravity assist: November 2009
• Enter hibernation: July 2011
• Exit hibernation: January 2014
• Rendezvous maneuver: May 2014. Rosetta would enter orbit around the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and stay with it as it journeys in towards the Sun
• Global Mapping of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko: August 2014
• Lander Delivery: The Philae lander would be released from Rosetta and attempt to make the first landing on a comet: November 2014
• Perihelion Passage: August 2015
• End of Mission: December 2015

Rosetta carried sensors for the following mission objectives:

• Global characterization of the comet nucleus, determination of dynamic properties, surface morphology and composition;
• Determination of the chemical, mineralogical and isotopic compositions of volatiles and refractories in a cometary nucleus;
• Determination of the physical properties and interrelation of volatiles and refractories in a cometary nucleus;
• Study of the development of cometary activity and the processes in the surface layer of the nucleus and the inner coma (dust/gas interaction);
• Global characterization of asteroids, including determination of dynamic properties, surface morphology and composition.

The Rosetta spacecraft was a box-type central structure, 2.8 m x 2.1 m x 2.0 m, on which all subsystems and payload equipment were mounted. Two solar panels, of combined area 64 m2, stretch out to 14 m in length. The total span was 32 m. The Rosetta orbiter carried the following sensor suite:

• Remote sensing: OSIRIS, ALICE, VIRTIS, MIRO
• Composition analysis: ROSINA, COSIMA, MIDAS
• Nucleus large-scale structure: CONSERT
• Dust flux and mass distribution: GIADA
• Comet plasma environment and solar wind interaction: RPC
• Radio science: RSI

The mission would be controlled from the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt. Communications would be via ESA's 35 m ground station at New Narcia, near Perth, Australia, with additional support during near-Earth phases from the ESA 15 m ground station in Kourou.

Design Life: 15 years. Length: 2.80 m (9.10 ft). Basic Diameter: 2.00 m (6.50 ft). Maximum Diameter: 2.00 m (6.50 ft). Span: 32.00 m (104.00 ft). Mass: 2,900 kg (6,300 lb). Payload: 159 kg (350 lb). Main Engine Propellants: 1,578 kg (3,478 lb).

• 2004 March 2 - Rosetta - Launch Site: Kourou. Launch Complex: ELA3. Launch Vehicle: Ariane 5. Mass: 3,065 kg (6,757 lb).
  Launch delayed from January 13, 2003, February 26 and 27, 2004.

• 2005 March 4 - Rosetta, first Earth Gravity Assist, Successful -