Here’s how the Rosetta describes his orbits – Il Sole 24 Ore

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This article was published on 25 August 2014 at 19:56.

From the moment August 9 has reached the comet, Rosetta began a long series of maneuvers to fall into an orbit closer.

Technically, however, its trajectories are not true orbits, because Rosetta does not move under the influence of gravity of the comet (which is very low), like the moon when it orbits around the Earth, or the Earth around the Sun.
Rosetta must follow a path of triangular shape.
path on one side of about 100 km, should turn on for a short period, its thrusters and execute the move on another side of the triangle, and so on. The animation source ESA makes very good idea of ​​these complex maneuvers.

Rosetta has remained at 100 km from the comet for a couple of weeks, before closing the triangular outline to 70 km. These tacks at the corners allow you to observe the effect of the gravity of the comet and then determine its mass. Complicating matters is the strange shape of the comet, which makes its gravitational field uneven. The next month, once established the mass of the comet and understood the gravity field, Rosetta will enter into a circular orbit at a distance of 30 km. After making further comments, you can then move on to an elliptical orbit in which Rosetta will pass 10 km from the comet in its closest point.

In the meantime, scientists and engineers are assessing the 5 possible sites on which to fall Philae looking more and more defined images of the surface of the comet. The result is very close.

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