Rosetta rendezvous and CONSERT operations in 2014: A chimeric surface model of 67P/Churyumov Gerasimenko

In 2014 the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe will rendezvous with the comet 67P/Churyumov Gerasimenko (67P) and the Philae Lander will land on the surface of the nucleus. Following the landing, the COmet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radiowave Transmission (CONSERT) radar will perform the tomography of the nucleus by measuring radiowave propagation through the comet between the Lander and the orbiter. Preparation for these operations, in particular the development and validation of simulation software, requires a shape model of the surface of 67P. The complexity of this model should reflect the environmental conditions that will be found in 2014.In this paper, we show that existing models of 67P are not of a sufficiently high resolution to constitute interesting test cases. Following a review of current shape models for other comets, we propose a composite which is a hybrid of the 67P and 81P/Wild 2 models.

► The resolution of the Lamy mode is too low to be used to prepare the comet rendezvous and to validate our simulation software.
► We review the existing shape models of comet nucleus.
► We generate a composite shape model from Lamy model of 67P and from small scales of 81P.
► The chimeric model is analyzed.