As the spacecraft completed a complex series of nine orbital maneuvers since the end of hibernation on Jan. 20, 2014, orbit entry took place on Aug. 6, 2014 August and triggered by a small thruster firing lasting just 6 min 26 sec. Such commands were uploaded to the craft from Earth during the night of Aug. 4 as the Rosetta mission was at 22 minutes of light away. After the burn, Rosetta was to fly the first leg of a series of three-legged triangular, 62-mile long paths about the comet. Rosetta will take between three and four days to complete each leg
The orbit entry timeline was to unfold like:
August 5th, 2014
| GMT/CEST | Event | Details |
| 08:04/10:04 | BoT New Norcia tracking station | ESA 35 m station, Australia |
| 19:41/21:41 | EoT New Norcia tracking station | |
| 20:00/22:00 | BoT DSS-63 tracking station | NASA 70 m station Madrid |
August 6th, 2014
| GMT/CEST | Event | Details |
| 00:05/02:05 | EoT DSS-63 | |
| 00:10/02:10 | BoT Malargüe tracking station | ESA 35 m station, Argentina |
| 02:41/04:41 | EoT Malargüe | |
| 02:50/04:50 | BoT DSS-15 | NASA 34 m station, Goldstone, USA |
| 07:35/09:35 | EoT DSS-15 | |
| 08:00/10:00 | BoT New Norcia tracking station AoS telemetry data flow (see below) |
|
| Rosetta slews into position for thruster burn | ||
| 09:00:01/11:00:01 | Start: Comet Approach Trajectory – insertion thruster burn | Start of orbit entry manoeuvre. Must wait 1-way light time for confirmation on ground |
| 09:06:27/11:06:27 | End: thruster burn | Rosetta now on first leg of cometary orbit |
| Rosetta slews back to comet-pointing mode | ||
| 09:22:30/11:22:30 | Start of thruster burn confirmed on ground | |
| 09:28:56/11:28:56 | End of thruster burn confirmed on ground | |
| 19:43/21:43 | EoT New Norcia | |
| 19:48/21:48 | BoT Malargüe tracking station | |
Notes (all times subject to change): BoT: Beginning of track, EoT: End of track, AoS: Acquisition of signal, LoS: Loss of signal
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