Rosetta factsheet

Launch date: 2 March 2004

Mission end: 30 September 2016

Launch vehicle: Ariane-5 G+

Launch mass: Orbiter: 2900 kg (including 1670 kg propellant and 165 kg science payload); Lander (Philae): 100 kg

Dimensions: Orbiter: 2.8 × 2.1 × 2.0 m with two 14 metre long solar panels

• Discovery of how Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko got its curious shape and insight into its double-lobed form.

• Insight into the importance of the comet’s shape in influencing its seasons, moving dust across its surface, and in explaining the variations measured in the density and composition of the coma, the comet’s ‘atmosphere’.

• The discovery of molecular oxygen and nitrogen, and water with a different ‘flavour’ to that in Earth’s oceans.

• Discovery of elements regarded as crucial for the origin of life including the amino acid glycine, which is commonly found in proteins, and phosphorus, a key component of DNA and cell membranes.

• Revelation that comets are the ancient leftovers of early Solar System formation, and not younger fragments resulting from subsequent collisions between other, larger bodies.

• Rosetta gets its name from the famous Rosetta stone that led to the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphics almost 200 years ago.

• Rosetta’s original target was comet 46P/Wirtanen, but after postponement of the initial launch a new target was set: Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

• Rosetta was the first spacecraft to fly close to Jupiter’s orbit using only solar cells as its main power source.

• Rosetta is the first spacecraft to orbit a comet and land on its surface

• The Philae lander is named for the island in the river Nile on which an obelisk was found that had a bilingual inscription that enabled the hieroglyphs of the Rosetta Stone to be deciphered.