Heavy Metal Rock Set to Take the Stage

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE 818-354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Priscilla Amador 818-354-1357
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
priscilla.r.amador@jpl.nasa.gov

Jocelyne Landeau-Constantin 011-49-6151-90-2696
European Space Agency, Darmstadt, Germany
jlc@esa.int

News release: 2010-228 July 9, 2010

Heavy Metal Rock Set to Take the Stage

The full version of this story with accompanying images is at:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-228&cid=release_2010-228

PASADENA, Calif. – On its way to a 2014 rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko,
the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft, with NASA instruments aboard, will fly past
asteroid Lutetia this Saturday, July 10.

The instruments aboard Rosetta will record the first close-up image of a metal asteroid. They will
also make measurements to help scientists derive the mass of the object, understand the properties
of the asteroid's surface crust, record the solar wind in the vicinity and look for evidence of an
atmosphere. The spacecraft will pass the asteroid at a minimum distance of 3,160 kilometers (1,950
miles) and at a velocity of 15 kilometers (9 miles) per second.

"Little is known about asteroid Lutetia other than it is about 100 kilometers (62 miles) wide," said
Claudia Alexander, project scientist for the U.S. role in the Rosetta mission, from NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Allowing Rosetta's suite of science instruments to focus
on this target of opportunity should greatly expand our knowledge of this huge space rock, while at
the same time giving the mission's science instruments a real out-of-this-world workout."

Previous images of Lutetia were taken by ground-based telescopes and show only hints of the
asteroid's shape. Lutetia will be the second asteroid to receive the full attention of Rosetta and its
instruments. The spacecraft previously flew within 800 kilometers (500 miles) of asteroid Steins in
September of 2008. The Lutetia flyby is the final scientific milestone for Rosetta before controllers
put the spacecraft into hibernation early in 2011, only to wake up in early 2014 for approach to
comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

NASA has contributed an ultraviolet instrument (Alice); a plasma instrument (the Ion and Electron
Sensor); a microwave instrument (Microwave Instrument for the Rosetta Orbiter); and portions of
the electronics package for the double focusing mass spectrometer of the Rosetta orbiter sensor for
ion and neutral analysis (ROSINA), among other contributions to this international mission.
NASA's Deep Space Network, managed by JPL, will be providing support for tracking and science
operations.

One hundred and fifteen elementary school students will be at JPL during the flyby. The students
will view close-up images of Lutetia, talk to the U.S. Rosetta project manager and participate in
educational activities. The U.S. Rosetta project leaders hope to use this event as a kickoff of more
coordinated activities with selected schools around the United States.

JPL manages NASA's participation in the Rosetta mission. Learn more about NASA's contribution
to Rosetta at: http://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov .

-end-

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