Rosetta

Rosetta is an ESA space mission currently orbiting comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The mission is named after the Rosetta stone – understanding these cometary building blocks will allow us to understand how the solar system formed, as studying the scripts on the Rosetta stone eventually led to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics.

Rosetta stone

Flight Model Ptolemy on Philae lander in 2001

Mark’s main contribution to Rosetta was as Programme Manager for the Rosetta Philae lander Ptolemy GC-MS instrument between August 2000 and August 2001 (up to flight model delivery and completion of spacecraft AIV). He took over this project at a critical point, successfully resolved the technical and programmatical issues, and was instrumental in the delivery and integration of the flight model instrument on budget within 12 months.

Earlier at the University of Kent at Canterbury (UKC) Mark led the proposals to ESA for the Dust Flux Analyser (later renamed GIADA) on the Rosetta orbiter, and the MUPUS instrument on the Philae lander.

The Philae lander and Ptolemy successfully sent back their science data after an eventful “bouncing” landing in November 2014. The GIADA instrument continues to send back data on the dust environment around comet 67P.