Jan. 21 – The comet probe Rosetta of the European Space Agency (ESA) , after two and a half years of hibernation, re-opened for business under Italian surveillance. The University of Padua developed the two cameras mounted on board. The probe was launched in March 2004 from Kourou (French Guiana), it sailed in the solar system between Earth and the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter until June 2011, taking spectacular images of great scientific value of the asteroids Steins and Lutetia, and planets Mars and Earth, before it headed to the outer orbit of Jupiter and rendezvous with the Churyumov Gerasimenko comet. To survive the big chill (about -130C°), by June 2011 the probe was completely shut down and put into a state of true ‘induced hibernation.’ Since then, no signal has been received from the probe, nor any signal emitted from Earth reached the probe. The only working system is a small clock, programmed to turn the rest of the probe back on at 10 am on January 20, 2014. “We at the University of Padua have been waiting to receive feedback – said Professor Cesare Barbieri, professor of the Department of Physics and Astronomy, – Rosetta carries aboard two cameras for images, like ‘eyes’, a system called OSIRIS to which many researchers, PhD students and technicians of the CISAS, the University’s Centre of Studies and Activities for Space “G. Colombo”, contributed. Staff of the Departments of Physics and Astronomy, Information Engineering and Industrial Engineering, Geosciences, INAF – Astronomical Observatory of Padova, and CNR Luxor was also involved, while local companies were engaged in materials and workmanship of the highest technology.”
