spacetoday.net: Rosetta faces long delay

Posted: Thu, Jan 16, 2003, 10:36 AM ET (1536 GMT)
Rosetta spacecraft illustration (ESA)

ESA's Rosetta comet mission could be delayed by a year or more as scientists and project officials work out an alternative mission plan. Rosetta was to launch this month on a mission to comet Wirtanen, but concerns about the Ariane 5 booster that would launch Rosetta forced ESA and Arianespace to postpone the launch indefinitely. The BBC reported Thursday that although project scientists were optimistic about a launch this month as late as January 13 — one day before ESA and Arianespace announced the delay — top officials at the company and space agency had decided by the 12th to postpone the launch, after reviewing a report that concluded there were "significant problems in all versions of Ariane 5." Project officials plan to drain propellant from the spacecraft and send its instruments back to scientists for storage until a new mission plan is decided. Several comets are under consideration for Rosetta, including Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, Finlay, Brooks 2, and Wild 2, which will be visited by NASA’s Stardust spacecraft in one year. While ESA officials would only say that the mission would be delayed by at least a year, many believe that Rosetta may not launch until 2005, and officials gave no indication of when they would make a decision on a new destination for the spacecraft.