European Spacecraft to Make Historic Comet Landing on Nov. 12 European Spacecraft to Make Historic Comet Landing on Nov. 12 By Mike Wall, Senior Writer | September 29, 2014 03:00pm ET MORE This image from Europe's Rosetta spacecraft shows the mission's planned landing site on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta will attempt to drop a lander on the comet on Nov. 12, 2014. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA One of the boldest and most dramatic maneuvers in the history of spaceflight is just six weeks away. On Nov. 12, the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe will try to drop a robotic lander onto the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which Rosetta has been orbiting since early August. No spacecraft has ever attempted a soft landing on a comet before.

The current plan calls for the lander, named Philae, to come down at a location on Comet 67P that the mission team has dubbed Site J. [ Incredible Comet Photos by the Rosetta Mission ] "Site J was chosen unanimously over four other candidate sites as the primary landing site because the majority of terrain within a square kilometer [0.4 square miles] area has slopes of less than 30 degrees relative to the local vertical and because there are relatively few large boulders," European Space Agency (ESA) officials said in a statement . "The area also receives sufficient daily illumination to recharge Philae and continue surface science operations beyond the initial 64-hour battery-powered phase," they added. If all goes according to plan, Rosetta will deploy Philae at 4:35 a.m. EDT (0835 GMT) on Nov. 12, at a distance of 14 miles (22.5 km) from the comet. Philae will spiral down slowly toward 67P, eventually securing itself to the surface with harpoons at Site J around 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 GMT) that same day.

Confirmation of the historic maneuver's success or failure will come 28 minutes and 20 seconds later — the amount of time it takes for signals to travel from Rosetta to its controllers here on the ground. It's also possible that Philae could touch down at a backup location called Site C, ESA officials said. Final confirmation of the landing plan will come on Oct. 14, after a formal review of data gathered by the Rosetta mothership. ESA will also launch a public competition to name Philae's landing site on that date. The $1.7 billion (1.3 billion euros) Rosetta mission blasted off in March 2004 and finally arrived in orbit around Comet 67P on Aug. 6 of this year. The Rosetta orbiter is studying the 2.5-mile-wide (4 km) comet with 11 different science instruments, and Philae will contribute by photographing 67P's surface and collecting and analyzing samples. Comet 67P, which takes 6.5 years to complete one lap around the sun, is now getting closer and closer to our star.

Rosetta and Philae will continue to observe the comet and study how it changes as it warms up on its trek through the inner solar system. The goal is to better understand the composition and behavior of comets, which are remnants from the solar system's formation 4.6 billion years ago, ESA officials have said. Rosetta is expected to continue gathering data through December 2015. Rosetta mission: Philae makes historic first landing on comet | Science | The Guardian Rosetta space probe Rosetta mission: Philae makes historic first landing on comet Rosetta mission’s safe landing gives scientists their first chance to ride a comet and study close up what happens as it gets closer to the sun Thursday 13 November 2014 10.11 EST First published on Wednesday 12 November 2014 11.07 EST Close This article is 2 years old The signal broke a seven-hour wait of agonising intensity and sparked scenes of jubilation at the European Space Agency’s mission control in Darmstadt. The team in charge of the Rosetta mission achieved what at times seemed an impossible task by landing a robotic spacecraft on a comet for the first time in history.

The moment the tension broke came shortly after 1600 GMT when the Philae called home. “We are there. We are sitting on the surface. Philae is talking to us,” said a jubilant Stephan Ulamec, Philae lander manager at the DLR German space centre. “We are on the comet.” Andrea Accomazzo, the Rosetta flight operations director, added: “We cannot be happier than we are now.” But celebrations were tempered by the later discovery that the probe’s two harpoons had not fired to fasten the craft down in the ultra-low gravity. Scientists now think the probe may have bounced after first coming into contact with the surface. Ulamec said: “Maybe today we didn’t just land once, we landed twice.” The safe, if precarious, touchdown of the lander gives scientists a unique chance to ride onboard a comet and study from the surface what happens as its activity ramps up as it gets closer to the sun. The first images beamed back from the lander’s descent revealed a dramatic landscape of pits and precipices, craters and boulders. However, there have been gaps in its radio link with the orbiting Rosetta mothership.

The Philae lander on its way to the comet, photographed by the Rosetta spacecraft. Photograph: AP The £1bn ($1.58bn) Rosetta mission aims to unlock the mysteries of comets, made from ancient material that predates the birth of the solar system. In the data Rosetta and Philae collect, researchers hope to learn more of how the solar system formed and how comets carried water and complex organics to the planets, preparing the stage for life on Earth. Space agencies have sent probes to comets before, but not like this. In 1986, Nasa’s Ice mission flew through the tail of Halley’s comet. In 2005, the agency’s Deep Impact spacecraft fired a massive copper block at comet Temple 1. But none before now has landed. The feat marks a profound success for the European Space Agency (ESA), which launched the Rosetta spacecraft more than 10 years ago from its Kourou spaceport in French Guiana.

Since blasting off in March 2004, Rosetta and its lander Philae have travelled more than 6bn kilometres to catch up with the comet, which orbits the sun at speeds up to 135,000km/h. “We are the first to do this, and that will stay forever,” said Jean Jacques Dordain, director general of the ESA. Matt Taylor, a Rosetta project scientist, who had selected an extremely colourful shirt for the event, revealed an impressive – and brave – tattoo of the lander on the comet’s surface. BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) #Rosetta scientist @mggtTaylor is so confident @philae2014 's going to make it that he's had it inked! #CometLanding pic.twitter.com/WWE9MkzfNY November 12, 2014 “Comets are the original source of Earth’s water. That wee lander is now in position, poised to re-write what we know about ourselves,” tweeted Chris Hadfield , the former Canadian astronaut and commander of the International Space Station. Early data from the lander revealed that it had had a softer landing on comet 67P than expected.

But an hour after the landing signal came through, Paolo Ferri, the ESA’s head of mission operations, said that Philae’s twin harpoons, which are intended to secure it in place, had not fired, raising fears about the lander’s stability and chances of clinging on to the comet for long. Touchdown for the lander played out 510m kilometres from Earth, between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter, on a comet hurtling through space at more than 18km/s. At so vast a distance, even radio signals travelling at the speed of light take nearly half an hour to travel from Earth to the spacecraft, making real-time control of the landing impossible. Instead, the entire descent was precalculated, uploaded and run automatically. Landing Philae on the comet’s surface was never going to be easy. When ESA managers got their first closeup of the comet in July, its unusual rubber duck shape left some fearing that a safe touchdown was impossible. The shape was not the only problem. The comet’s surface was hostile: hills and spectacular jutting cliffs gave way to cratered plains strewn with boulders.

If Philae landed on anything other than even ground it could topple over, leaving it stranded and defunct. Rosetta spent weeks flying around the comet to create a surface map from which mission controllers could choose a landing site. They faced a trade-off: the site had to be fairly flat and clear of boulders, but with a good view of the whole comet and plenty of sunlight to charge the lander’s batteries. From a shortlist of five potential landing spots, scientists and engineers unanimously voted for a 1 sq km region on the comet’s “head” later named Agilkia. Pinterest Scientists celebrate at the space centre in Toulouse as they learn that Philae has landed. Photograph: Remy Gabalda/AFP/Getty Images At the start of the mission, ESA officials had assumed the comet would be potato shaped and rated their chances of a successful landing at 75%. After seeing the shape and terrain of their target close up, those odds fell to around 50%, but climbed again as technical staff learned more about the landing site. The confidence did not last long though. On Tuesday night, hours before Philae had left its mothership, the chances of a safe landing took another dip.

Overnight, a thruster on the lander failed to respond to commands sent from Earth. Engineers tried for hours to correct the fault but to no avail. The malfunction threatened to abort the mission, but at 0235 GMT on Wednesday mission controllers decided to go ahead with the landing regardless. The nitrogen thruster, facing upwards from the top of the lander, was designed to fire for 60 seconds as Philae touched down to prevent it from bouncing off the comet’s surface where the gravitational pull is several hundred thousand times weaker than on Earth. Philae’s shot of its mothership shortly after separation. Photograph: ESA/Handout/ESA/Handout/Corbis For the mission team, the seven-hour descent, during which Philae fell at walking speed towards the comet’s surface, was a nail-biting experience. The lander separated from its mothership at 0835 GMT with confirmation received on Earth at 0903. For the early part of the 20km descent, Philae was expected to be out of contact with Rosetta.

Around 1100 GMT the mothership reacquired a signal from the lander, which duly unfurled its legs and began to take pictures . The first image taken just 50 seconds after separation revealed a look back at the mothership, one of its 14-metre-long solar arrays clearly visible, as Philae fell silently to its destination. One hour from touchdown, Philae was on the right course. Ulamec of the DLR German space centre said everything looked “fantastic”. Telemetry from the lander showed that it was rotating, but not enough to cause problems. Pinterest Scientists in Toulouse look at the first picture transmitted by Philae. Photograph: Remy Gabalda/AFP/Getty Images From its orbit around the comet, the Rosetta probe will take more high-resolution images and gather information on the body’s density, temperature and chemical makeup. It will also capture dust and gas released in ever more violent jets from the comet’s nucleus as it nears the sun. From its vantage point on the surface, the lander can drill down 20cm and collect samples of subsurface material for on-the-spot testing.

On board Philae are 10 instruments, including one from the Open University named Ptolemy which will bake pieces of comet material and analyse the gases given off to build up a picture of the comet’s composition. Another instrument, the Comet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radiowave Transmission (Consert), will reveal the comet’s internal structure by passing radio waves through the icy body to Rosetta on the other side. Philae Lander (@Philae2014) . @ESA_Rosetta See for yourself! ROLIS imaged #67P when we were just 3km away! Glad I can share. #CometLanding pic.twitter.com/b6mcid2fsn November 12, 2014 The Rosetta mission is planned to run until December 2015, but if enough fuel remains in the spacecraft’s tanks, mission controllers may extend its life by six months and give the mothership more high-risk tasks, such as flying through one of the gas and dust jets streaming from the comet. Philae has initial battery power to last 40 hours but will then switch to rechargeable ones replenished by sunlight.

The lander could continue working until March next year, when the electronics will become too warm to work properly. Even when Philae packs up, it may still cling on to the comet, perhaps for several 6.45-year-long laps around the sun, before enough material erodes from the comet’s surface for the lander to lose its grip. European Spacecraft Lands on Comet in Historic Space Feat European Spacecraft Lands on Comet in Historic Space Feat By Miriam Kramer, Space.com Staff Writer | November 12, 2014 11:13am ET MORE For the first time in history, a spacecraft from Earth has landed on the face of a comet speeding through deep space. The European Space Agency's Philae lander on the Rosetta spacecraft made its nail-biting, history-making touchdown on the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko today (Nov. 12). Mission controllers are still trying to determine whether Philae's harpoons fired to anchor it to the surface of the comet.

The landing ended what some scientists had dubbed "seven hours of terror" - the time it took for Philae to descend from Rosetta as the spacecraft and comet flew through space about 317 million miles (510 million kilometers) from Earth. People started hugging, cheering and celebrating as soon as mission controllers got confirmation that the lander successfully touched down on the surface of the comet. Officials are now trying to determine whether they need to re-fire the probe's harpoons to be sure it stays in place on the comet. ESA officials confirmed that the spacecraft made its soft landing on the comet at a little bit after 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT) today. [ See images from the Rosetta mission ] Comet 67P/CG appears in an image taken by the ROLIS instrument on the Philae lander as it descended from Rosetta spacecraft on Nov. 12, 2014, from a distance of approximately 1.9 miles (3 km) from the surface. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/Philae/ROLIS/DLR The European Rosetta spacecraft's Philae lander aims to be the first probe ever to safely land on a comet.

Here's how to land on a spinning ice mountain in space . Credit: By Karl Tate, Infographics Artist "We see the lander sitting on the road," Andrea Accomazzo, Rosetta flight director said just after landing was confirmed. "We've definitely confirmed that the lander is on the surface." Unlocking comet mysteries The Rosetta mission is charged with helping scientists learn more about comets, mysterious, icy wanders that are left over from the dawn of the solar system billions of years ago. Some research also suggests that comets could be responsible for bringing water to Earth early in the planet's history. Philae's 10 instruments will monitor Comet 67P/C-G from the surface as Rosetta orbits the comet, investigating it from above. Scientists hope that Philae will continue to collect data about the comet until at least March 2015. The two probes should be able to observe some changes to the comet as it flies closer to the sun. Rosetta is expected to remain with Comet 67P/C-G through December 2015, after it makes its closest flyby to the sun in August 2015.

"Comet impacts are thought to have been one of the principal means by which water was delivered to the early Earth, around 3.6 billion years ago, possibly contributing half the water in our oceans," planetary scientist Stanley Cowley, of the University of Leicester in England, said in a statement . Philae started its difficult descent to the comet's surface at 3:35 a.m. EST (0835 GMT). The probe separated from Rosetta when they were both flying about 14 miles (22.5 kilometers) from the comet's center. The lander deployed a harpoon into the comet just after touchdown in order to keep itself in place in the comet's low gravity. Mission controllers ran into a problem with the 220-pound (100 kilograms) lander during earlier checks of the spacecraft's health. As ESA officials found that the probe's "cold gas thruster" could not be activated. The thruster would have been used to help keep the probe from bouncing off into space after touchdown, so instead, ESA officials decided to totally rely on Philae's harpoon to stick the landing.

ESA staff members at ESA's European Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany, celebrate the landing of Philae probe on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Nov. 12, 2014. Credit: ESA While Philae's landing marks the first time humans have soft-landed a probe on a comet, this is not the first time a spacecraft has visited one of these icy cosmic wanderers. An ESA spacecraft called Giotto flew past Halley's Comet in 1986, and NASA's Stardust mission returned samples of a different comet to Earth in 2006. Scientists also used a probe to impact Comet Tempel 1 in order to learn more about its structure. The long road to a comet It has been a long road to the surface of the comet for Philae. The Rosetta mission launched toward Comet 67P/C-G in 2004 and traveled about 4 billion miles through the solar system before reaching the comet in August. Since then, the two spacecraft have been warming up their instruments and preparing for the landing by learning how to fly in orbit around the oddly-shaped comet.

This graphic compares the size of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko with the city of London. Credit: Comet: ESA/Rosetta/Navcam; Map data ©2014 Google, Bluesky Comet 67P/C-G 's nucleus is very different than mission controllers on Earth though would be. While researchers were expecting to find a semi-round, regularly shaped object, they instead found a strange looking comet with a "body," a "head" and a "neck." Philae is currently parked on the head of the comet. Although the comet seems to be pretty stable right now, it's possible that it could break up as it flies closer to the sun. Comets are extremely unpredictable, and 67P/C-G is no exception, according to Rosetta project scientist Matt Taylor. "Ultimately, comets only have a limited amount of fuel and a limited lifetime," Taylor said during a webcast before the landing. "We hope and expect that the comet will live up to the end of next year, hopefully, but it may not, it may break up. We don't know.

That's part of the mission itself, is to try and understand how a comet works." Philae, Rosetta and the landing site, Agilkia were all named in a similar, Egyptian theme. Rosetta is named after the Rosetta Stone, a tablet that helped archaeologists translate ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. Philae is named for an obelisk found on an island of the same name in the Nile River, and Agilkia is named for another island in the Nile. Editor's Note: This story was updated to reflect a correction at 11:43 a.m. EST (1643 GMT). Scientists are not yet sure whether the lander's harpoons deployed. Follow Miriam Kramer @mirikramer and Google+ . Follow us @Spacedotcom , Facebook and Google+ . Original article on Space.com . Comets are debris left over after the solar system formed 4.6 billion years ago. Let's see what you know about these ancient and elusive celestial wanderers.

The First Spacecraft Has Landed On A Comet « The Dish The First Spacecraft Has Landed On A Comet The First Spacecraft Has Landed On A Comet Andrew Sullivan — Nov 12 2014 @ 5:15pm And naturally, it’s already tweeting: . @ESA_Rosetta See for yourself! ROLIS imaged #67P when we were just 3km away! Glad I can share. #CometLanding pic.twitter.com/b6mcid2fsn — Philae Lander (@Philae2014) November 12, 2014 Gautam Naik details the exciting news: Rocket scientists at the European Space Agency’s mission control here erupted in cheers as they received the first signal that the Rosetta mission’s probe, called Philae, had touched down more than 300 million miles away on the forbidding landscape of a small comet known as 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. There were even more cheers, hugs and handshakes when it became clear that it had done so safely.

The landing follows a decade long trek through the solar system to get the up-close-and-personal visit with a comet for a lengthy period of time as it hurtles closer to the sun. “We made history today,” said Matt Taylor, project scientist for the Rosetta mission, who sported a pair of shorts revealing a tattoo on his thigh depicting a successful Philae landing. “I can’t see anyone doing this again anytime soon.” But Victoria Bryan and Maria Sheahan have some sobering details : [A]n anchoring system problem may hamper planned investigations into the origins of Earth and the solar system. The 100-kilogram (220-pound) lander – virtually weightless on the comet’s surface – touched down on schedule at about 11 a.m. ET after a seven-hour descent from its orbiting mothership Rosetta, now located a half-billion kilometers (300 million miles) from Earth. But during the free-fall to the comet’s surface, harpoons designed to anchor the probe, named Philae, failed to deploy. Flight directors are considering options to ensure the lander does not drift back into space.

Meanwhile, Dave Gilbert describes the probe: Built by a European consortium, led by the German Aerospace Research Institute (DLR), the landing probe has nine experiments. According to details on ESA’s Rosetta website, sensors on the lander will measure the density and thermal properties of the surface, gas analyzers will help to detect and identify any complex organic chemicals that might be present, while other tests will measure the magnetic field and interaction between the comet and solar wind. Philae also carries a drill that can drive 20 centimeters (8 inches) into the comet and deliver material to its on-board ovens for testing. Joseph Stromberg voxsplains the landing’s potential significance: [T]he comet is believed to have formed 4.6 billion years ago, from material leftover as Earth and the solar system’s other planets were coalescing. As a result, understanding the composition of comets could help us better model the formation of the solar system. Moreover, many scientists believe that in the period afterward, when the solar system was still a chaotic, collision-filled system, comets and asteroids were responsible for bringing water and perhaps even organic molecules to Earth.

If water ice is present on this comet, as scientists hope, Philae will calculate the ratio of different sorts of hydrogen isotopes present in it — information that could provide an important clue as to whether the hypothesis is correct. In other words, data collected by a tiny robot on this lopsided, spinning comet, millions of miles away, could provide a window into the history of all life on earth. Rachel Feltman and Terrence McCoy discuss the mission’s circuitous journey to the comet: It’s no easy thing to land on a comet’s surface: These chunks of rock and ice are constantly spinning, and Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which was discovered in 1969, orbits the sun at a speed of about 85,000 mph. It’s irregularly shaped — like a toddler’s play-dough impression of a duck, or something — and its surface is uneven and pitted. And in a universe of unimaginable proportion, Rosetta’s target is just 2.5 miles in diameter — smaller than Northwest Washington’s Columbia Heights neighborhood.

So Rosetta has taken an onerous journey to get in sync with the comet’s orbit, which would allow it to drop down a lander. In 2004, the spacecraft began what would be three looping orbits around the sun, altering its trajectory as it skimmed Mars, just 150 miles from the surface, and enduring 24 minutes in the planet’s shadow to align with Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The cumulative distance traveled by the craft – with all its looping and gravity assists – is a stunning 4 billion miles . “When the Rosetta signal reappeared after the passage behind Mars, shortly after the end of the ‘shadow’ period, there was a collective sigh of relief,” ESA said . At one point in 2011, the spacecraft even had to hibernate for nearly three years. It flew so far from the sun — nearly 500 million miles — that its solar panels couldn’t leech enough energy to keep the spacecraft operational. But in January of this year, Rosetta woke up, and quickly approached its target. Meanwhile, Victoria Turk perks up her ears : We recently found out what [the comet] smells like: space farts.

And now we know that it’s “singing” this percussive little ditty as it goes. As one commenter put it, it kind of sounds like a dolphin. ESA announced the observation on its Rosetta blog, and explained that the “music” is produced “in the form of oscillations in the magnetic field in the comet’s environment” picked up by the mission’s magnetometer experiment from a distance of around 100 kilometers. Scientists were delighted by the discovery: “This is exciting because it is completely new to us. We did not expect this and we are still working to understand the physics of what is happening,” Karl-Heinz Glaßmeier, head of Space Physics and Space Sensorics at the Technische Universität Braunschweig, Germany, explained on the RESA Rosetta blog . The “song” – as the scientists themselves refer to it – was in fact outside the normal range of human hearing range and has to be boosted in volume by a factor of 10,000. According to scientific theory, the comet releases neutral particles into space where they collide with high-energy particles and that’s what makes the sound.

However, “the precise physical mechanism behind the oscillations remains a mystery,” according to the blog. Rosetta's Spacecraft Successfully Lands On Comet | The Huffington Post Rosetta's Spacecraft Successfully Lands On Comet 11/12/2014 11:29 am ET | Updated Nov 12, 2014 2.5k Alana Horowitz AP/HuffPost European Space Agency's Rosetta space probe on Wednesday successfully deployed its robotic lander Philae on the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. This is the first time a spacecraft has ever landed on the surface of a comet. The mission was ten years in the making. — ESA Rosetta Mission (@ESA_Rosetta) November 12, 2014 EU science chief Anne Glover tweeted that, "I think Europe just boldly went where no one else has gone before." Philae touched down on an area of the comet named Agilkia, using harpoons and screws to latch on to the surface. To see a minute-by-minute recount of the historic landing, check out HuffPost Science's liveblog.

Here's a timeline of the spacecraft's historic mission, courtesy of the AP: DARMSTADT, Germany (AP) — The European Space Agency said it landed a spacecraft on a comet Wednesday for the first time ever. The Philae craft pulled off the audacious landing hours after it was released toward the giant ball of dust and ice by the unmanned Rosetta space probe. The landing is the highlight of a decade-long mission to link up with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Here's a look at key moments during Rosetta's incredible trip: ___ March 2, 2004: Europe's unmanned probe Rosetta takes off from Kourou, French Guiana, after a series of delays, including an abandoned January 2003 launch window because of a rocket problem. Feb. 25, 2007: Rosetta carries out a close flyby of Mars. European Space Agency's mission control breaks out in applause after the end of 15 tense minutes of radio silence as the craft passes behind the Red Planet. Sept. 5, 2008: Probe successfully passes close to an asteroid 250 million miles from Earth.

The spacecraft loses its radio signal for 90 minutes as planned during the flyby of the Steins asteroid, also known as Asteroid 2867. July 10, 2010: Between Mars and Jupiter, Rosetta transmits its first pictures from the largest asteroid ever visited by a satellite after it flies by Lutetia as close as 1,900 miles (3,200 kilometers). It is the closest look to date at the Lutetia asteroid. Jan. 20, 2014: Waking after almost three years of hibernation, Rosetta sends its first signal back to Earth. Systems had been powered down in 2011 to conserve energy, leaving scientists in the dark for 31 months. Aug. 6, 2014: Rosetta swings alongside comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko somewhere between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Nov. 12, 2014: The probe releases the Philae lander and it drops to the comet's surface. Seven hours later, Philae touches down on the comet.

Joyful scientists show pics from historic comet mission - CNN.com 1 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Philae is wedged in a dark corner of Rosetta – "We are so happy to have finally imaged Philae, and to see it in such amazing detail," says Cecilia Tubiana of the OSIRIS camera team. She was the first person to see the images when they were downlinked from the Rosetta probe, according to the European Space Agency. Hide Caption 2 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Philae found using images from Rosetta – The image is detailed enough that viewers can pick out features of Philae's 3-foot-wide (1 meter) body. Even two of its three legs can be seen. Hide Caption 3 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser One of the primary objectives of the Rosetta mission was to drop the Philae lander onto the comet. The probe was successfully deployed in November 2014, becoming the first probe to land on a comet. But Philae failed to grab onto the comet and bounced around. It fell silent a few days later.

Then on June 13, 2015, Philae came out of hibernation and "spoke" to mission managers at the European Space Agency for 85 seconds. This photo above was taken by the lander's mothership, the Rosetta orbiter, after the lander started its descent to the comet. Hide Caption 4 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser The Rosetta spacecraft captured this image of a jet of white debris spraying from Comet 67P/Churyumov--Gerasimenko on July 29, 2015. Mission scientists said this was the brightest jet seen to date in the mission. The debris is mostly of ice coated with dark organic material. Hide Caption 5 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser This image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was taken by Rosetta on July 8, 2015 as the spacecraft and comet headed toward their closest approach to the sun. Rosetta was about 125 miles (201 kilometers) from the comet when it took this image.

Hide Caption 6 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Philae wakes up! Mission managers posted this cartoon of the lander yawning after it came out of hibernation on June 13, 2015. They also sent a series of tweets between the lander and its mothership, Rosetta. Hide Caption 7 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is a Jupiter-family comet. Its 6.5 year journey around the Sun takes it from just beyond the orbit of Jupiter at its most distant, to between the orbits of Earth and Mars at its closest. The comet hails from the Kuiper Belt, but gravitational perturbations knocked it towards the Sun where interactions with Jupiter's gravity set it on its present-day orbit. Hide Caption 8 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser This image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was taken by Rosetta on June 5, 2015, while the spacecraft was about 129 miles (208 kilometers) from the comet's center.

Hide Caption Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta's navigation camera took this image of the comet on June 1, 2015. Hide Caption 10 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser The Rosetta Mission is tracking Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on its orbit around the sun. This image was taken on May 3, 2015 at a distance of about 84 miles (135 km) from the comet's center. Hide Caption Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser This image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was taken on April 15, 2015. Hide Caption 12 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta snapped this wide-angle view of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in September 2014. Rosetta was about 107 million miles (172 million kilometers) from Earth and about 92 million miles (148 million kilometers) from the sun when the photo was released.

Hide Caption 13 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser A camera on Rosetta took this picture of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on November 22, 2014, from a distance of about 19 miles (31 kilometers). The nucleus is deliberately overexposed to reveal jets of material spewing from the comet. The 2.5-mile-wide (4-kilometer) comet has shown a big increase in the amount of water its releasing, according to NASA. The space agency says about 40 ounces (1.2 liters) of water was being sprayed into space every second at the end of August 2014. Hide Caption 14 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta took this picture of a section of the comet's two lobes from a distance of about 5 miles (8 kilometers) on October 14, 2014.

Hide Caption 15 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser The Rosetta spacecraft's Philae lander is shown sitting on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko after becoming the first space probe to land on a comet on November 12, 2014. The probe's harpoons failed to fire, and Philae bounced a few times. The lander was able to send back images and data for 57 hours before losing power. Hide Caption 16 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta's lander, Philae, wasn't able to get a good grip on the comet after it touched down. This mosaic shows Philae's movements as it bounced across the comet. Hide Caption 17 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Philae snapped these images after landing, and mission scientists used them to create a panoramic view of the landing site. A graphic shows where the probe would be sitting in the photograph.

Hide Caption 18 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser The image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was taken by a camera on the Philae lander during its descent to the comet on November 12, 2014. The lander was about 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) from the surface at the time. Philae touched down on the comet about seven hours later. Hide Caption Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta's OSIRIS camera captured this parting shot of the Philae lander after separation. Hide Caption 20 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta's lander Philae took this parting shot of its mother ship shortly after separation on November 12, 2014, as Philae headed for a landing on Comet 67P. While Philae is the first probe to land on a comet , Rosetta is the first to rendezvous with a comet and follow it around the sun.

Hide Caption 21 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser This mosaic is made of four individual images taken about 20 miles (31.8 kilometers ) from the center of the comet on November 4, 2014. Hide Caption 22 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta took this image of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on September 15, 2014. The box on the right shows where the lander was expected to touch down. Hide Caption 23 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser The spacecraft sent this image as it approached the comet on August 6, 2014. From a distance of nearly 81 miles (130 kilometers), it reveals detail of the smooth region on the comet's "body" section. Hide Caption 24 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser This image, captured August 7, 2014, shows the diversity of surface structures on the comet's nucleus.

Hide Caption 25 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser The comet's "head" can be seen in the left of the frame as it casts a shadow over the "body" in this image released August 6, 2014. Hide Caption 26 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser This image of the comet was taken on August 1, 2014, as Rosetta closed in its target. Hide Caption 27 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta's mission started on March 2, 2004, when it was launched on a European Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. Hide Caption 28 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta is named after the Rosetta Stone, the black basalt that provided the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs. Scientists think the mission will give them new clues about the origins of the solar system and life on Earth. The mission is spearheaded by the European Space Agency with key support from NASA.

Hide Caption 29 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser This photo shows Rosetta being tested before it was wrapped in insulating blankets and loaded on a rocket for launch. Hide Caption 30 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta has massive solar wings to power the spacecraft. They were unfurled and checked out at the European Space Agency's test facilities before being packed up for liftoff. Hide Caption 31 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser After its closest approach to Earth in November 2007, Rosetta captured this image of the planet. Hide Caption 32 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta snapped this image of Earth in November 2009. The spacecraft was 393,328 miles from Earth. Hide Caption 33 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta passed asteroid Steins in September 2008, giving scientists amazing close-ups of the asteroid's huge crater. The asteroid is about 3 miles in diameter.

Hide Caption Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta took this image of Mars as it looped through the solar system. Hide Caption 35 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser This image was taken by an instrument on Rosetta's Philae lander just minutes before the spacecraft made its closest approach to Mars. Part of Rosetta and its solar arrays are visible. Hide Caption 36 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser On July 10, 2010, Rosetta flew about 1,864 miles from asteroid Lutetia, which is 10 times larger than asteroid Steins. Hide Caption 37 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Look closely at the top of this picture. See that dot? That's Saturn. Rosetta snapped the picture of asteroid Lutetia and captured Saturn in the background.

Hide Caption Philae comet probe may have bounced after landing - CNN.com 1 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Philae is wedged in a dark corner of Rosetta – "We are so happy to have finally imaged Philae, and to see it in such amazing detail," says Cecilia Tubiana of the OSIRIS camera team. She was the first person to see the images when they were downlinked from the Rosetta probe, according to the European Space Agency. Hide Caption 2 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Philae found using images from Rosetta – The image is detailed enough that viewers can pick out features of Philae's 3-foot-wide (1 meter) body. Even two of its three legs can be seen. Hide Caption 3 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser One of the primary objectives of the Rosetta mission was to drop the Philae lander onto the comet. The probe was successfully deployed in November 2014, becoming the first probe to land on a comet. But Philae failed to grab onto the comet and bounced around. It fell silent a few days later.

Then on June 13, 2015, Philae came out of hibernation and "spoke" to mission managers at the European Space Agency for 85 seconds. This photo above was taken by the lander's mothership, the Rosetta orbiter, after the lander started its descent to the comet. Hide Caption 4 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser The Rosetta spacecraft captured this image of a jet of white debris spraying from Comet 67P/Churyumov--Gerasimenko on July 29, 2015. Mission scientists said this was the brightest jet seen to date in the mission. The debris is mostly of ice coated with dark organic material. Hide Caption 5 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser This image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was taken by Rosetta on July 8, 2015 as the spacecraft and comet headed toward their closest approach to the sun. Rosetta was about 125 miles (201 kilometers) from the comet when it took this image.

Hide Caption 6 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Philae wakes up! Mission managers posted this cartoon of the lander yawning after it came out of hibernation on June 13, 2015. They also sent a series of tweets between the lander and its mothership, Rosetta. Hide Caption 7 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is a Jupiter-family comet. Its 6.5 year journey around the Sun takes it from just beyond the orbit of Jupiter at its most distant, to between the orbits of Earth and Mars at its closest. The comet hails from the Kuiper Belt, but gravitational perturbations knocked it towards the Sun where interactions with Jupiter's gravity set it on its present-day orbit. Hide Caption 8 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser This image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was taken by Rosetta on June 5, 2015, while the spacecraft was about 129 miles (208 kilometers) from the comet's center.

Hide Caption Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta's navigation camera took this image of the comet on June 1, 2015. Hide Caption 10 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser The Rosetta Mission is tracking Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on its orbit around the sun. This image was taken on May 3, 2015 at a distance of about 84 miles (135 km) from the comet's center. Hide Caption Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser This image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was taken on April 15, 2015. Hide Caption 12 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta snapped this wide-angle view of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in September 2014. Rosetta was about 107 million miles (172 million kilometers) from Earth and about 92 million miles (148 million kilometers) from the sun when the photo was released.

Hide Caption 13 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser A camera on Rosetta took this picture of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on November 22, 2014, from a distance of about 19 miles (31 kilometers). The nucleus is deliberately overexposed to reveal jets of material spewing from the comet. The 2.5-mile-wide (4-kilometer) comet has shown a big increase in the amount of water its releasing, according to NASA. The space agency says about 40 ounces (1.2 liters) of water was being sprayed into space every second at the end of August 2014. Hide Caption 14 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta took this picture of a section of the comet's two lobes from a distance of about 5 miles (8 kilometers) on October 14, 2014.

Hide Caption 15 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser The Rosetta spacecraft's Philae lander is shown sitting on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko after becoming the first space probe to land on a comet on November 12, 2014. The probe's harpoons failed to fire, and Philae bounced a few times. The lander was able to send back images and data for 57 hours before losing power. Hide Caption 16 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta's lander, Philae, wasn't able to get a good grip on the comet after it touched down. This mosaic shows Philae's movements as it bounced across the comet. Hide Caption 17 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Philae snapped these images after landing, and mission scientists used them to create a panoramic view of the landing site. A graphic shows where the probe would be sitting in the photograph.

Hide Caption 18 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser The image of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was taken by a camera on the Philae lander during its descent to the comet on November 12, 2014. The lander was about 1.9 miles (3 kilometers) from the surface at the time. Philae touched down on the comet about seven hours later. Hide Caption Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta's OSIRIS camera captured this parting shot of the Philae lander after separation. Hide Caption 20 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta's lander Philae took this parting shot of its mother ship shortly after separation on November 12, 2014, as Philae headed for a landing on Comet 67P. While Philae is the first probe to land on a comet , Rosetta is the first to rendezvous with a comet and follow it around the sun.

Hide Caption 21 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser This mosaic is made of four individual images taken about 20 miles (31.8 kilometers ) from the center of the comet on November 4, 2014. Hide Caption 22 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta took this image of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on September 15, 2014. The box on the right shows where the lander was expected to touch down. Hide Caption 23 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser The spacecraft sent this image as it approached the comet on August 6, 2014. From a distance of nearly 81 miles (130 kilometers), it reveals detail of the smooth region on the comet's "body" section. Hide Caption 24 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser This image, captured August 7, 2014, shows the diversity of surface structures on the comet's nucleus.

Hide Caption 25 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser The comet's "head" can be seen in the left of the frame as it casts a shadow over the "body" in this image released August 6, 2014. Hide Caption 26 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser This image of the comet was taken on August 1, 2014, as Rosetta closed in its target. Hide Caption 27 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta's mission started on March 2, 2004, when it was launched on a European Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. Hide Caption 28 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta is named after the Rosetta Stone, the black basalt that provided the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs. Scientists think the mission will give them new clues about the origins of the solar system and life on Earth. The mission is spearheaded by the European Space Agency with key support from NASA.

Hide Caption 29 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser This photo shows Rosetta being tested before it was wrapped in insulating blankets and loaded on a rocket for launch. Hide Caption 30 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta has massive solar wings to power the spacecraft. They were unfurled and checked out at the European Space Agency's test facilities before being packed up for liftoff. Hide Caption 31 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser After its closest approach to Earth in November 2007, Rosetta captured this image of the planet. Hide Caption 32 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta snapped this image of Earth in November 2009. The spacecraft was 393,328 miles from Earth. Hide Caption 33 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta passed asteroid Steins in September 2008, giving scientists amazing close-ups of the asteroid's huge crater. The asteroid is about 3 miles in diameter.

Hide Caption Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Rosetta took this image of Mars as it looped through the solar system. Hide Caption 35 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser This image was taken by an instrument on Rosetta's Philae lander just minutes before the spacecraft made its closest approach to Mars. Part of Rosetta and its solar arrays are visible. Hide Caption 36 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser On July 10, 2010, Rosetta flew about 1,864 miles from asteroid Lutetia, which is 10 times larger than asteroid Steins. Hide Caption 37 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser Look closely at the top of this picture. See that dot? That's Saturn. Rosetta snapped the picture of asteroid Lutetia and captured Saturn in the background. Hide Caption 38 of 39 Photos: Rosetta: The comet chaser After taking pictures of Earth, Mars and asteroids, Rosetta was put into hibernation in May 2011 after it reached the outer part of the solar system.

Mission managers woke it January 20, 2014. Hide Caption Space Today Online - Solar System - Comets - Rosetta probe The Philae lander carries nine more science tools plus a drill to take subsurface samples: alpha-p x-ray spectrometer – APXS panoramic and microscopic imaging system – CIVA radio sounding and nucleus tomography – CONSERT evolved gas analyzer for elemental and molecular composition – COSAC evolved gas analyzer for isotopic composition – MODULUS Ptolemy measurements of surface and subsurface properties – MUPUS imaging – ROLIS magnetometer and plasma monitor – ROMAP drilling and sample retrieval – SD2 surface electrical, acoustic and dust impact monitoring – SESAME The lander's Sampling Drilling Distribution Subsystem (SD2) will drill about eight inches into the surface of the comet to collect samples and then place them under microscopes or in ovens for analysis. The Rosetta orbiter relays signals from the lander to Earth. The comet lander. The spacecraft is carrying the German-built Rosetta lander – the so-called Surface Science Package – to the nucleus of the comet where the orbiter will drop the lander on the surface.

The Rosetta lander is named Philae, after an island in the Nile River. Philae lander on the surface of Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko click to enlarge esa artist concept On that island is an obelisk with a bilingual inscription including the names of Cleopatra and Ptolemy in Egyptian hieroglyphs. The inscription gave the French historian Jean-François Champollion the final clues for deciphering the hieroglyphs on the celebrated Rosetta Stone, which unlocked the written language of the ancient Egyptian civilization. The 198-lb. lander will touch down on the comet softly on three shock-absorbing legs. Then, Philae will fire a harpoon into the tiny body to anchor the lander to the ground. The comet is so small it has almost no gravity. The rocket. The ambitious Rosetta flight plan was made possible by the powerful boost of ESA's Ariane 5 rocket firing the probe on its interplanetary trajectory. The European Space Agency fires space rockets from its Kourou space launch complex known as Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG), in French Guiana on the northeastern coast of South America.

Rosetta was to have been launched in January 2003 on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou. Unfortunately, previous Ariane 5 launches had failed and Rosetta was postponed to February 2004, and the new comet target had to selected. Rosetta was a special launch for ESA because it is the first spacecraft placed by Ariane 5 on an Earth-escape trajectory. The Itinerary 2015 December To get to Churymov-Gerasimenko, Rosetta will fly away from Earth and into the Asteroid Belt between Jupiter and Mars. Along the way out to the comet, Rosetta will fly around the Sun four times, around Mars once (2007), around Earth three times (2005, 2007, 2009), and into the asteroid belt twice. It will use the gravity of Earth and Mars to provide extra energy needed for the probe's long voyage. During those fly-bys, Rosetta will pick up speed as it heads on into deep space. Visiting asteroids. During its multiple year voyage, Rosetta also will perform close flybys of one or two asteroids.

The duration of the lengthy mission will require the onboard instruments to be placed into hibernation for long periods. Rosetta will arrive at Churymov-Gerasimenko and go into orbit around the comet in May 2014. For six months, Rosetta will study the comet's nucleus and environment. They will be traveling together through the Solar System at 83,600 mph. Then, in November 2014, the orbiter will send down the lander Philae to the surface of the comet. What are comets? Those dirty snowballs and icy mudballs we call comets are water ice and frozen gases mixed with dust samples from the earliest history of our Solar System. Comets have been seen and reported since antiquity. As a comet flies near the Sun, it starts to melt. The solar wind drives ice away from the comet creating a tail. more about comets ESA scientists suggest that comets may contain matter left over from the birth of the Sun, planets and the Solar System because most comets seem to have formed at the same as the Solar System – an estimated 4.6 billion year ago.

During those eons, comets have preserved their interior materials as if they were in a deep freeze. As other comets pelted Earth over the billion years since the Solar System formed, could they have brought to Earth such building blocks for life as water and organic materials? Rosetta's Previous Target Rosetta was to have been launched in 2003 on a flight to the comet 46 P/Wirtanen, arriving there about 2012. Unfortunately, that comet target had to be abandoned when the Rosetta launch was postponed after failures of Europe's Ariane 5 rockets. Selecting the new target. ESA scientists had 12-30 months to find a suitable comet to replace Wirtanen. Faced with the necessity of changing targets, ESA scientists used the Hubble Space Telescope in orbit above Earth and the European Southern Observatory on the ground in Chile to find areplacement comet. They selected Churyunov-Gerasimenko for Rosetta. Along the way during the probe's multi-year journey to the comet, Rosetta will pass close to one or more asteroids. The long mission duration will require extended hibernation periods for the spacecraft.

Now, if the ten-year flight goes well, Rosetta will drop a lander onto the surface of Comet Churymov-Gerasimenko in November 2014 That will be the first time for a probe to orbit a comet. It also will be the first time Earth will see such high-resolution close-up images of a comet. The replacement target had to be chosen carefully as the box-shaped lander had to be customized for the chosen comet. The abandoned flight path. Traveling from Earth to Comet Wirtanen, Rosetta would have made a flyby of Mars in August 2005 for a gravity assist, followed by two Earth gravity assists in November 2005 and November 2007. Along the way, the probe would have passed near two asteroids – Otawara and Siwa. Rosetta would have arrived in the vicinity of Comet Wirtanen in 2011 for its first observations in April 2012. The spacecraft would have gone into an orbit near the comet. For 17 months, it would have flown around the comet at distances of 6-31 miles.

As the spacecraft circled the comet's nucleus, it would have dropped a lander for a soft touchdown on Wirtanen's surface. The lander would have provided a close-up look at the comet's physical condition and chemical composition. Rosetta's science mission would have ended in 2013 as Comet Wirtanen made its closest approach to the Sun. The flight to Comet Churymov-Gerasimenko will be very similar, but with later dates. Rosetta will be the first European spacecraft to make close-up observations of a comet since Giotto. That deep-space probe, sent on its way by an Ariane 1 rocket back in 1985, encountered Halley's Comet and Comet Grigg-Skjellerup in deep space. The European Space Agency The European Space Agency was established in 1973 and is based in Paris. ESA includes 15 countries – Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. In addition Canada and Hungary participate in some projects under cooperation agreements. Work on the Rosetta spacecraft started in 1993.

The European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, will control Rosetta. Transmissions to the spacecraft will be sent via ESA's 115-ft. ground station antenna at New Narcia, near Perth, Australia, and the 50-ft. antenna at ESA's ground station at Kourou. Also in 2004, the European Space Agency's orbiter Mars Express has sent back evidence of water in ice at the Red Planet's south pole. Learn more: European Spacecraft to Make Historic Comet Landing on Nov. 12 European Spacecraft to Make Historic Comet Landing on Nov. 12 by Mike Wall, Senior Writer Pin it Share This image from Europe's Rosetta spacecraft shows the mission's planned landing site on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta will attempt to drop a lander on the comet on Nov. 12, 2014. More One of the boldest and most dramatic maneuvers in the history of spaceflight is just six weeks away. On Nov.

12, the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe will try to drop a robotic lander onto the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which Rosetta has been orbiting since early August. No spacecraft has ever attempted a soft landing on a comet before. The current plan calls for the lander, named Philae, to come down at a location on Comet 67P that the mission team has dubbed Site J. [ Incredible Comet Photos by the Rosetta Mission ] "Site J was chosen unanimously over four other candidate sites as the primary landing site because the majority of terrain within a square kilometer [0.4 square miles] area has slopes of less than 30 degrees relative to the local vertical and because there are relatively few large boulders," European Space Agency (ESA) officials said in a statement . "The area also receives sufficient daily illumination to recharge Philae and continue surface science operations beyond the initial 64-hour battery-powered phase," they added. If all goes according to plan, Rosetta will deploy Philae at 4:35 a.m. EDT (0835 GMT) on Nov.

12, at a distance of 14 miles (22.5 km) from the comet. Philae will spiral down slowly toward 67P, eventually securing itself to the surface with harpoons at Site J around 11:30 a.m. EDT (1530 GMT) that same day. Confirmation of the historic maneuver's success or failure will come 28 minutes and 20 seconds later — the amount of time it takes for signals to travel from Rosetta to its controllers here on the ground. It's also possible that Philae could touch down at a backup location called Site C, ESA officials said. Final confirmation of the landing plan will come on Oct. 14, after a formal review of data gathered by the Rosetta mothership. ESA will also launch a public competition to name Philae's landing site on that date. The $1.7 billion (1.3 billion euros) Rosetta mission blasted off in March 2004 and finally arrived in orbit around Comet 67P on Aug. 6 of this year.

The Rosetta orbiter is studying the 2.5-mile-wide (4 km) comet with 11 different science instruments, and Philae will contribute by photographing 67P's surface and collecting and analyzing samples. Comet 67P, which takes 6.5 years to complete one lap around the sun, is now getting closer and closer to our star. Rosetta and Philae will continue to observe the comet and study how it changes as it warms up on its trek through the inner solar system. The goal is to better understand the composition and behavior of comets, which are remnants from the solar system's formation 4.6 billion years ago, ESA officials have said. Rosetta is expected to continue gathering data through December 2015.

Question: What was the name of spacecraft which created history on 12 November 2014 and landed a probe on a comet?
Answer: Rosetta