11 March
2004: On 11 March 2004, the Rosetta Science Working Team made the final selection of the asteroids that ESA's Rosetta will observe at close quarters during its journey to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Steins and Lutetia lie in the asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.
Rosetta's scientific goals always included the possibility of studying one or more asteroids from close range. However, only after Rosetta's launch and its insertion into interplanetary orbit could the ESA mission managers assess how much fuel was actually available for fly-bys.
Information from the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Germany enabled Rosetta's Science Working Team to select a pair of asteroids of high scientific interest, well within the fuel budget.
