Outgassing-induced effects in the rotational state of comet 67P/Churyumov—Gerasimenko during the Rosetta mission

The new target of the Rosetta mission is comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (hereafter 67P/C–G). In order to support the planning of the mission, in particular the strategy during the mapping and landing phases, we have performed numerical simulations of the rotational evolution of a comet in the orbit of 67P/C–G. In these simulations, the currently known observational constraints have been taken into account and a large set of initial conditions were considered. For most of the simulations, we observe that the sublimation-induced torques produce significant changes in the rotational parameters of a 67P/C–G-like comet. Typical rates of change for the spin period from the rendezvous up to the end of the nominal mission range from 0.001 to 0.05 h day - 1 depending on different circumstances as described in the text. At perihelion, rates of change of the orientation of the angular momentum vector amount to about 0.01– 0.1 deg day - 1 . These simulations suggest that a specific strategy should be defined in order to monitor likely variations of the rotational parameters. As an example we show a possible optimized schedule for observations with the OSIRIS instrument to determine the rotational parameters of comet 67P/C–G and their possible evolution.