Rosetta to Land on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, ESA Announces

While ESA's Rosetta mission has already made quite a few findings, it's far from over. Scientists have announced that its Rosetta mission will be extended until the end of September 2016, and that the spacecraft will actually be landed on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Rosetta was first launched in 2004. But it took ten years for it to finally arrive at the comet in August 2014. That's when it began studying the nucleus and the environment of the comet as it moved along a 6.5-year orbit closer to the sun. After a detailed study, Rosetta deployed its lander, Philae, to the surface of the comet.

Over the next nine months, the comet will move far away from the sun once more. Because the Rosetta mission is continuing, the spacecraft will be able to monitor the comet during this time period.

"This is fantastic news for science," said Matt Taylor, ESA's Rosetta Project Scientist, in a news release. "We'll be able to monitor the decline in the comet's activity as we move away from the sun again, and we'll have the opportunity to fly closer to the comet to continue collecting more unique data. By comparing detailed 'before and after' data, we'll have a much better understanding of how comets evolve during their lifetimes."

The comet will make its closest approach to the sun on 13 August. As Rosetta watches, the spacecraft will be able to record how the comet's activity waxes and wanes along its orbit. More interestingly is that Rosetta may land on the surface of the comet itself.

"This time, as we're riding along next to the comet, the most logical way to end the mission is to set Rosetta down on the surface," said Patrick Martin, Rosetta Mission Manager. "But there is still a lot to do to confirm this end-of-mission scenario is possible. We'll first have to see what the status of the spacecraft is after perihelion and how well it is performing close to the comet, and later we will have to try and determine where on the surface we can have a touchdown."

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