Rosetta CONSERT Data as a Testbed for In Situ Navigation of Space Probes and Radiosciences in Orbit/Escort Phases for Small Bodies of the Solar System

• Main Authors: Mao Ye, Fei Li, Jianguo Yan, Alain Hérique, Wlodek Kofman, Yves Rogez, Thomas P. Andert, Xi Guo, Jean-Pierre Barriot
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-09-01
• Series: Remote Sensing
• Subjects: comet; 67P/C-G; CONSERT; navigation; ranging; solar system small bodies
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/13/18/3747

Many future space missions to asteroids and comets will implement autonomous or near-autonomous navigation, in order to save costly observation time from Earth tracking stations, improve the security of spacecraft and perform real-time operations. Existing Earth-Spacecraft-Earth tracking modes rely on severely limited Earth tracking station resources, with back-and-forth delays of up to several hours. In this paper, we investigate the use of CONSERT ranging data acquired in direct visibility between the lander Philae and the Rosetta orbiter, in the frame of the ESA space mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, as a proxy of autonomous navigation and orbitography science capability.