Arianespace :
Flight 158
January 29: Topping off Rosetta
The countdown for liftoff of Flight 158 reached another milestone this week with the fueling of Europe's Rosetta comet-intercept spacecraft. This activity is taking place in the S3B clean-room facility at the Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. At the same time, final integration of Ariane 5 vehicle for Flight 158 is proceeding in the Spaceport's launcher integration building.
Rosetta's main scientific objective is to rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in order to study the comet's nucleus and environment in great detail for a period of nearly two years, during which a lander will be released to the comet's surface.
Fueling of the European Space Agency's Rosetta deep space probe is performed by specially trained launch team members. Rosetta uses a 2.8 x 2.1 x 2.0-meter square spacecraft bus, on which all subsystems and payload equipment are mounted. The payload of scientific instruments are accommodated on one side of the spacecraft, which will permanently face the comet during the operational phase of the mission.
During activity earlier this month at the Spaceport, the Ariane 5's EPS upper stage is raised inside the Launcher Integration Building for integration atop the vehicle. The Ariane 5 is partially visible through the open doors behind the EPS upper stage.
