Europe's comet chaser


Rosetta spacecraft
   
Rosetta orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko
 
In November 1993, the International Rosetta Mission was approved as a Cornerstone Mission in ESA's Horizons 2000 Science Programme.
 
Since then, scientists and engineers from all over Europe and the United States have been combining their talents to build an orbiter and a lander for this unique expedition to unravel the secrets of a mysterious 'mini' ice world – a comet.

Initially scheduled for January 2003, the launch of Rosetta had been postponed due to a failure of an Ariane rocket in December 2002. The adventure began March 2004, when a European Ariane 5 rocket lifted off from Kourou in French Guiana.

During a circuitous ten-year trek across the Solar System, Rosetta will cross the asteroid belt and travel into deep space, more than five times Earth’s distance from the Sun. Its destination will be a periodic comet known as Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
 
 
 The Rosetta orbiter will rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and remain in close proximity to the icy nucleus as it plunges towards the warmer inner reaches of the Sun’s domain. At the same time, a small lander will be released onto the surface of this mysterious cosmic iceberg.

More than a year will pass before the remarkable mission draws to a close in December 2015. By then, both the spacecraft and the comet will have circled the Sun and be on their way out of the inner Solar System.
 
 
 Historic mission
  
The Rosetta mission will achieve many historic firsts.

  • Rosetta will be the first spacecraft to orbit a comet’s nucleus.
  • It will be the first spacecraft to fly alongside a comet as it heads towards the inner Solar System.
  • Rosetta will be the first spacecraft to examine from close proximity how a frozen comet is transformed by the warmth of the Sun.
  • Shortly after its arrival at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the Rosetta orbiter will despatch a robotic lander for the first controlled touchdown on a comet nucleus.
  • The Rosetta lander’s instruments will obtain the first images from a comet’s surface and make the first in situ analysis to find out what it is made of.
  • On its way to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Rosetta will pass through the main asteroid belt, with the option to be the first European close encounter with one or more of these primitive objects.
  • Rosetta will be the first spacecraft ever to fly close to Jupiter’s orbit using solar cells as its main power source.

 
 
 Scientists will be eagerly waiting to compare Rosetta’s results with previous studies by ESA’s Giotto spacecraft and by ground-based observatories. These have shown that comets contain complex organic molecules - compounds that are rich in carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen.

Intriguingly, these are the elements which make up nucleic acids and amino acids, the essential ingredients for life as we know it. Did life on Earth begin with the help of comet seeding? Rosetta may help us to find the answer to this fundamental question.
  
 
  
Last update: 26 July 2007


More about...

 •  Rosetta (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/index.html)
 •  Rosetta factsheet (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMJUZS1VED_index_0.html)
 •  Rosetta press kit (http://www.esa.int/esaSC/SEMJ09374OD_1_spk.html)

Related articles

 •  Comets - an introduction (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/SEMMXZ374OD_0.html)
 •  History of cometary missions (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/SEMCZ3474OD_0.html)
 •  Accidental space scientist: An interview with Gerhard Schwehm (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/SEMAP5474OD_0.html)
 •  Hubble assists Rosetta comet mission (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/SEM536474OD_0.html)
 •  Why 'Rosetta'? (http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Rosetta/ESA26F7708D_0.html)