ROSETTA-ORBITER: Comet 67P Gravity Measurements from Prelanding Phase

Radio Science data from the Rosetta orbiter's PRELANDING phase in 2014 provides a global gravity measurement of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration collected this data over a specific 10-hour window on September 21-22, 2014. It captures the comet's gravitational field as the spacecraft prepared for its historic landing operation.

Use Cases

• Modeling the internal mass distribution of comet 67P based on global gravity data.
• Analyzing temporal variations in the comet's gravitational field during the prelanding spacecraft orbit.
• Calibrating or validating radio science instrumentation and methods for deep-space missions.
• Studying the relationship between surface features and subsurface density for comet 67P.

Strengths

• Data originates from the authoritative Rosetta mission led by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
• Covers a precise 10-hour observation period from 2014-09-21T16:47:05.000 to 2014-09-22T02:47:04.000.
• Focuses on the scientifically significant PRELANDING phase for comet 67P.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and file format are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Collected by the Rosetta orbiter's Radio Science Investigation (RSI) instrument.

Time Range

2014-09-21T16:47:05.000 to 2014-09-22T02:47:04.000 (part of the PRELANDING phase from 2014-01-21 to 2014-11-18).

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 05:03:23.442702; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.