European Space Agency looking closely at asteroid
By VERENA SCHMITT-ROSCHMANN, Associated Press
Jul 10, 2010 12:13 PM CDT
Spacecraft Operations Manager Andrea Accomazzo controls the Rosetta asteroid mission at the Space Operations Centre of ESA (European Space Agency) in Darmstadt, Germany, on Saturday, July 10, 2010. ESA's Rosetta comet-chaser is on the way to its main target, the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, arriving...   (Associated Press)

The European Space Agency took the closest look yet Saturday at asteroid Lutetia in an extraordinary quest some 280 million miles in outer space between Mars and Jupiter.

The comet-chaser Rosetta flew by Lutetia as close as 1,900 miles (3,200 kilometers) and had about two hours to capture images of the asteroid with its high-tech cameras, the space agency said in Darmstadt, Germany.

Though Lutetia was discovered some 150 years ago, for a long time it was little more than a point of light to those on Earth. Only recent high-resolution ground-based imaging has given a vague view of the asteroid, the agency said.

"At the moment we know very little about it," project scientist Rita Schulz said in a webcast presentation from Darmstadt.

Lutetia is believed to be 83.3 miles (134 kilometers) in diameter with a "pronounced elongation," but scientists have been puzzled as to what type of asteroid it is _ a "primitive" one containing carbon compounds or a metallic asteroid.

"We are now going to get the details of this asteroid, which is very important," Schulz said. "There will be a lot of science coming from that mission."

Scientists hope to find in the information and images gathered by Rosetta clues to the history of comets and asteroids and of the solar system, Schulz said.

For Rosetta, examining Lutetia and other asteroids is only an event on its long journey to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko _ the mission's, said project manager Gerhard Schwehm.

Rosetta was launched in 2004 and is expected to reach its target in 2014.

Though the wait is long, scientists are certain it is going to be worthwhile, Schwehm said.

"We want to study the material out of which the planets formed," he said. This is possible only close up, he said.

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