Deep Space Probe Completes Asteroid Flyby

European Space Agency Probe Passed Asteroid 250 Miles From Earth

(AP)  The Rosetta deep space probe successfully passed close to an asteroid 250 million miles from Earth, the European Space Agency said Friday night.

In a mission that may bring man closer to solving the mystery of the solar system's birth, the craft completed its flyby of the Steins asteroid, also known as Asteroid 2867 - now in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter - at around 3:15 p.m. EDT.

As planned, the spacecraft's signal was lost for about 90 minutes as engineers turned it away from the sun and because the craft was moving too fast for its antennas to transmit.

The resumption of the craft's signal transmission was greeted with cheers from ESA engineers and technicians.

"We're extremely happy that it worked," mission manager Gerhard Schwehm said, sipping a glass of champagne after the announcement from the control room. "It's a big relief. People can relax a bit now and everything seems fine."

Schwehm said the agency would work to get images and other data collected by the probe processed as soon as possible. He said the first images should be released to the public Saturday.

"The operation went very well," Paolo Ferri, the head of the solar and planetary missions division and Rosetta flight operations director, said in a short speech after the announcement.

"The spacecraft is in exactly the condition we expected, which is good. All indications are that everything was super successful."

The timing of the flyby meant the asteroid was illuminated by the sun, making it likely the transmitted images will be clear and sharp for scientists working on the origins of the solar system.

"Dead rocks can say a lot," Schwehm said.

Astronomers have had to work with limited data from previous passes of asteroids, such as when ESA's Giotto probe swept by Halley's Comet in 1986, photographing long canyons, broad craters and 3,000-foot hills.

Steins was Rosetta's first scientific target as flies in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter en route to its main destination, the comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which is scheduled for 2014. The probe was launched in March 2004.

The European Space Agency is supported by 17 countries, including Germany, France, Ireland and the Netherlands. It cooperates with NASA, the European Union, European national space agencies and international partners.

[mecury69]

"We will NEVER be any closer to knowing the origin of the universe.. we are not capable of understanding anyway."

Wow, thank goodness Da Vinci, Einstein, Hawking, etc. or any great scientist does not share this horrible attitude. We would still be in caves, or living the lives of nomads given this type of philosophy. We can and just may figure it out given time and dreamers who can ignore the defeatists as indicated by this quote.

[Keith Geddes]

THATS why I looked at the article.. 250 miles.. HA..
We will NEVER be any closer to knowing the origin of the universe.. we are not capable of understanding anyway. It IS fascinating. News?? Mainstream media is almost told what to tell us. Thats why we are `allowed` tvs and `puters..

[avigil2]

I don''''t believe anything I read on the Internet.
I only believe what I hear on the Evening Newscasts. -Posted by caldwellptr

But the evening newscasts get their information from the internet.

[fuzzyface4]

It (the sub-head saying "250 miles") still hasn''t been corrected. "In fairness to CBS" doesn''t apply. If they got the incorrect sub-head from AP and if other news outlets are also misreporting it, that''s no excuse - they still oughta do some editing work. However, in the greater scheme of things, the asteroid story isn''t earth-shaking - although it would have been if it HAD been 250 miles from the home planet. But in that case they''d probably have missed it anyway... too busy reporting entertainment news, ya know...

[notfooled]

I don''''t believe anything I read on the Internet.
I only believe what I hear on the Evening Newscasts.
Posted by caldwellptr at 05:24 PM : Sep 06, 2008

That would explain why alot of folks don''t really know what''s happening in our world as they only watch the "manufactured according to agenda" major news networks and don''t bother to investigate further for the real truth.

While it''s true information on the internet should be scrutinized for truth, the exact same can be said of the major media newscasts.

But the internet does contain the information of the world and truths that the major networks in collusion with the government don''t want you to know.

For instance: 20 minutes before bldg #7 at the World Trade Center was demolitioned on 911, the BBC anounced that the bldg had already fallen down. You will never hear about this on the major media outlets as they don''t want you to know the lies of 911.

http://911blogger.com/node/10025

[farmerbb]

In fairness to CBS, another news site (not in the U.S.) had this same error before it was corrected. That would suggest the mistake came from the original source, and was not something CBS did.

[caldwellptr]

I don''t believe anything I read on the Internet.
I only believe what I hear on the Evening Newscasts.

[erasmus81]

"If it wipes the asteroid, tell it not to wipe forward." Posted by SistaTee at 11:43 PM : Sep 05, 2008

Hahahaha

[mawskrat]

one of the cameras did not work....Allah did it

[fstop100]

Right on the money Fuzzyface4