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06 Dec 2002

Rosetta Passes Final Acceptance Test
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With its tight launch window scheduled for January 12, 2003, Rosetta, 
ESA's scientific probe built with the contribution of Alenia Spazio, 
has successfully completed its Final Acceptance Test.

At the Kourou launch site in French Guiana, the Alenia mechanical team
transferred the spacecraft on to the Vertical Integration Stand and 
the fuelling stand at the end of November.

Technicians and engineers from Astrium, Alenia and ESA then carried 
out a number of checks on Rosetta's main computer to verify that the 
spacecraft responded according to plan. The successful outcome means 
that Rosetta will have no more complete functional tests until after 
the launch.

Following this test, the team simulated immediate post-launch 
operations by conducting a system validation test through a 
transatlantic link with ESOC in Germany. Rosetta responded 
satisfactorily to the real-time commands.

With the integration activities successfully carried out, the Rosetta 
"comet chaser", whose mission to Comet 46P/Wirtanen will last ten and 
a half years, has been fuelled and pressurised..

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