Characterization of comet 46P/Wirtanen's nucleus interior using radio-waves sounding data (ROSETTA space mission - CONSERT experiment)

Abstract

We present a 3-D simulation of the CONSERT radiotomography of the comet 46P/Wirtanen. This experiment is part of the ROSETTA mission, due to launch in January 2003. Our method is based on a ray tracing algorithm and takes into account multiple internal reflections, power losses, phase delays and polarization distortions. We emulate as closely as possible the true CONSERT data and discuss the results of the simulation.