Rosetta mission accomplished: Spacecraft successfully lands on moving comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

For the first time ever, humans have landed a spacecraft on a comet. 

 

The European Space Agency's Rosetta spaceship has just sent confirmation to Earth that its landing probe has touched down on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which is currently hurtling through space at 18.34 kilometres per second.

 

Rosetta has spent the last ten years travelling through the solar system to get ready for this event, and has chased the comet over a cumulative distance of 6.4bn km during that time.

 

The purpose of the mission is no small piece of scientific research – named after the code-breaking Rosetta stone which helped archaeologists decipher the meaning of Egyptian hieroglyphs in the 1800s, it is hoped Rosetta will translate some of the secrets of the universe into explanations for the origin of comets, the solar system, and possibly even life on Earth.  

 

But to find answers to these important questions, Rosetta has to be physically present on the comet, which is why this touchdown was so crucial. The landing part of the craft, or “philae”, left he mothership just over seven hours ago to begin its 22.5km descent to the comet. 

 

“Now it is vital to analyse the comet’s interior, since it contains the initial composition of the solar system from when it was formed 4.5bn years ago. It might also contain amino acids such as glycine and other complex molecules,” said astronomer Daniel Brown at Nottingham Trent University.

 

“These results will allow us to improve models for the solar system and to better understand how a planet becomes habitable.”

 

Scientists at the ESA's mission control centre in the German city Darmstadt will be delighted at the news – the mission cost $1.75bn (€1.3bn) to carry out, but there was every chance the landing would not be successful. The target landing zone for the comet was considered to be very challenging due to its uneven terrain of cliffs, boulders and steep slopes.