操作／手術 slingshot 軌道s 火星

by ELEANOR MAYNE

Last updated at 22:00 24 February 2007


The first 宇宙船 to 試みる／企てる 上陸 on a 惑星 was 早期に today making a 批判的な manoeuvre to 確実にする it kept on 的.

Travelling 156 miles above 火星, the Rosetta 調査（する） will 軌道 the 惑星 in a slingshot move that will 推進する it across the solar system for a 会合 with 惑星 67 P/Churyumov- Gerasimenko 近づく Jupiter.

The manoeuvre, almost one third of the way into the 宇宙船's epic ten-year, 4.4billion-mile 旅行, is 述べるd as like 'throwing a pea a hundred miles and 上陸 it in an eggcup'.

Rosetta will pass behind the Red 惑星 for 25 minutes where, 影をつくる／尾行するd from sunlight, it will rely on 殴打／砲列s instead of solar パネル盤s. Most systems will be switched off and ground 支配（する）／統制する will lose 接触する for 15 nail-biting minutes.

But if all goes to 計画（する）, the （手先の）技術 will use the gravity of 火星 to 始める，決める it on the 権利 path to Jupiter.

Dan Andrews of the Open University, who has worked on the £600million European Space 機関 使節団 said,

"A 宇宙船 rarely has a ロケット／急騰する powerful enough to send it 直接／まっすぐに to its 的 in one 発射. So we use slingshots around the 惑星s to steal 軌道の energy from them.

"It needs to be very 正確な. There is an analogy of throwing a pea a hundred miles and 上陸 it in an eggcup - it really is that level of precision."

The three-トン 宇宙船 was 開始する，打ち上げるd from French Guiana in March 2004 and will arrive at the 惑星 in May 2014.

Rosetta will then 解放（する） a 上陸 装置 the size of a washing machine to touch 負かす／撃墜する on a surface moving at 22 miles a second, where it will 錨，総合司会者 itself using harpoons and ice screws.

Pictures of the 惑星 and 分析 of the 化学製品s and structure of the surroundings will be relayed 支援する to Earth.

Last year, Nasa's Stardust 使節団 collected dust from the tail of a 惑星 and scientists hope this flight will 改善する understanding of the origin of the Sun and 惑星s and how life began on Earth.

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