ESA title

The mission

ESA's Rosetta mission was the first to rendezvous with a comet, the first to follow a comet on its orbit around the Sun, and the first to deploy a lander to a comet's surface.

Comets are time capsules containing primitive material left over from the epoch when the Sun and its planets formed. By studying the gas, dust and structure of the nucleus and organic materials associated with the comet, via both remote and in situ observations, the Rosetta mission is unlocking the history and evolution of our Solar System.

Rosetta is an ESA mission with contributions from its Member States and NASA. Rosetta’s Philae lander was provided by a consortium led by DLR, MPS, CNES and ASI.

Launch: 2 March 2004
1st Earth gravity assist: 4 March 2005
Mars gravity assist: 25 February 2007
2nd Earth gravity assist: 13 November 2007
Asteroid Steins flyby: 5 September 2008
3rd Earth gravity assist: 13 November 2009
Asteroid Lutetia flyby: 10 July 2010
Enter deep space hibernation: 8 June 2011
Exit deep space hibernation: 20 January 2014
Comet rendezvous manoeuvres: May - August 2014
Arrival at comet: 6 August 2014
Philae lander delivery: 12 November 2014
Closest approach to Sun: 13 August 2015
Mission end: 30 September 2016

Rosetta
Rosetta closes in on home for the last Earth swingby
Science & Exploration

Rosetta sees a living planet

13/11/2009 6858 views 7 likes
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Enabling & Support

Rosetta bound for outer Solar System after final Earth swin…

13/11/2009 3759 views 2 likes
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Rosetta darting across the night
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Rosetta darting across the night

13/11/2009 2288 views 1 likes
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First view as Rosetta approaches home
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First view of Earth as Rosetta approaches home

12/11/2009 15974 views 24 likes
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Enabling & Support

ESA spacecraft may help unravel cosmic mystery

12/11/2009 3299 views 17 likes
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Rosetta spacecraft
Enabling & Support

Rosetta approach on schedule

06/11/2009 3088 views 1 likes
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A. Accomazzo with Rosetta Flight Control Team during Steins encounter 2008
Enabling & Support

Follow Rosetta’s final Earth boost

04/11/2009 1831 views 2 likes
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Rosetta spacecraft
Enabling & Support

Rosetta lined up nicely for Earth approach

28/10/2009 1379 views 1 likes
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Enabling & Support

Rosetta Blog live for final Earth swingby

20/10/2009 1389 views 2 likes
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Rosetta spacecraft
Science & Exploration

Last visit home for ESA’s comet chaser

20/10/2009 2808 views 1 likes
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Rosetta spacecraft
Science & Exploration

Encounter of a different kind: Rosetta observes asteroid at…

06/09/2008 5359 views 6 likes
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Steins getting closer (actual animation)
Science & Exploration

Steins: A diamond in the sky

06/09/2008 19227 views 19 likes
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Artist’s impression of Rosetta as it flies by asteroid Steins
Science & Exploration

Rosetta Steins fly-by confirmed

05/09/2008 4402 views 2 likes
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Steins approaching
Science & Exploration

(2867) Steins getting closer

05/09/2008 1534 views 1 likes
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Artist’s impression of asteroid (2867) Steins
Science & Exploration

Rosetta: Cool science at a rare target

04/09/2008 1347 views 0 likes
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Enabling & Support

Rosetta Blog now live

02/09/2008 1319 views 0 likes
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Rosetta’s trajectory towards asteroid Steins
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Rosetta Steins fly-by timeline

02/09/2008 2496 views 1 likes
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Rosetta asteroid's fly-by - artist's impression
Science & Exploration

Rosetta spacecraft meets asteroid Steins

25/08/2008 2544 views 0 likes
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Mars rotation 12 Sep - 8 Oct 2007
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'Mars Webcam' now online

22/08/2008 29081 views 153 likes
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Asteroid Steins imaged by Rosetta's OSIRIS camera on 7/11 August 2008
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Perfect sight: Rosetta cameras track asteroid target

18/08/2008 1913 views 0 likes
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Artist's impression of Rosetta asteroid fly-by
Enabling & Support

Rosetta starts tracking asteroid Steins

04/08/2008 2315 views 0 likes
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Artist's impression of the Rosetta spacecraft
Enabling & Support

Intense preparations for Rosetta's asteroid visit

24/07/2008 1261 views 1 likes
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Artist's impression of Rosetta asteroid fly-by
Science & Exploration

Rosetta awakes from hibernation for asteroid encounter

03/07/2008 2386 views 1 likes
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Earth's true colours
Science & Exploration

Rosetta: Earth’s true colours

20/11/2007 8945 views 8 likes
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Rosetta image of the Moon
Science & Exploration

The Moon and Europe - Rosetta OSIRIS images

16/11/2007 3316 views 2 likes
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OSIRIS’ view of Earth by night
Science & Exploration

Rosetta: OSIRIS’ view of Earth by night

15/11/2007 3615 views 4 likes
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OSIRIS image of urban regions on Earth
Enabling & Support

Cities at night: Extraordinary Rosetta images

14/11/2007 4033 views 4 likes
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Enabling & Support

Rosetta swing-by animation

14/11/2007 2289 views 5 likes
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Graham land, Antarctica
Science & Exploration

Images of Earth and Moon captured by Rosetta

14/11/2007 3365 views 2 likes
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Swing-by animation
Science & Exploration

Rosetta swing-by a success

13/11/2007 2664 views 1 likes
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Rosetta seen from Heppenheim
Science & Exploration

Rosetta on its way

13/11/2007 492 views 1 likes
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Rosetta closest to Earth
Science & Exploration

Rosetta right on track for Earth swing-by

13/11/2007 1131 views 0 likes
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Andrea Accomazzo, SOM
Enabling & Support

Earth swing-by: Rosetta operations update

12/11/2007 789 views 0 likes
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Enabling & Support

Rosetta blog now live

09/11/2007 514 views 0 likes
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Rosetta swings by Earth
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Rosetta closes in on Earth – a second time

08/11/2007 2319 views 1 likes
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Rosetta swings by Earth
Science & Exploration

Boosting the accuracy of Rosetta's Earth approach

19/10/2007 1594 views 0 likes
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Jupiter as imaged by New Horizons
Science & Exploration

Rosetta and New Horizons watch Jupiter in joint campaign

30/03/2007 1950 views 0 likes
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Asteroid Steins observed by Rosetta’s OSIRIS camera
Science & Exploration

OSIRIS camera on Rosetta obtains ‘light curve’ of asteroid …

20/03/2007 2364 views 0 likes
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New Horizons flies by Jupiter
Science & Exploration

Rosetta teams up with New Horizons

02/03/2007 3700 views 0 likes
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Animation: Phobos transit of Mars (faster)
Science & Exploration

Rosetta delivers Phobos transit animation and 'sees' Mars i…

27/02/2007 4563 views 3 likes
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Rosetta swinging by Mars at close distance
Agency

Rosetta lander measures Mars' magnetic environment around c…

25/02/2007 1711 views 0 likes
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Stunning image of Rosetta above Mars taken by the Philae lander camera
Science & Exploration

Stunning view of Rosetta skimming past Mars

25/02/2007 4496 views 7 likes
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Image of Mars seen by OSIRIS: A cloudy day on Mars
Science & Exploration

Beautiful new images from Rosetta’s approach to Mars: OSIRI…

25/02/2007 31663 views 46 likes
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Image of Mars seen by OSIRIS
Agency

Rosetta successfully swings-by Mars – next target: Earth

25/02/2007 4012 views 4 likes
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Animation showing Rosetta skimming Mars at 250 km
Agency

Rosetta swingby update - 03:13 CET 25 February

25/02/2007 1127 views 1 likes
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Mars seen by Rosetta on swingby approach 24 February 2007
Agency

Rosetta swingby update - 22:00 CET 24 February

24/02/2007 3112 views 0 likes
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Animated sequence illustrating Rosetta's slew
Agency

Timeline: Mars swingby at 36 000 km/hr

23/02/2007 1559 views 1 likes
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Rosetta swings by Mars
Science & Exploration

Media event at ESOC: closest encounter between ESA's comet …

16/02/2007 936 views 0 likes
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Science & Exploration

16/02/2007 145 views 0 likes
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Animation showing Rosetta's approach and swingby at Mars
Agency

Rosetta correctly lined up for critical Mars swingby

15/02/2007 3085 views 1 likes
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