Rosetta sets off on journey to first cometary landing

The European Space Agency has confirmed that the Rosetta cometary probe has been successfully launched into an orbit around the Sun.

The elongated slingshot orbit will eventually allow the probe to reach the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 after three flybys of the Earth and one of Mars. During this 10-year journey, the probe will pass close to at least one asteroid.

Rosetta is the first probe ever designed to enter orbit around a comet’s nucleus and release a lander onto its surface. If all goes according to plan, over the course of a year the probe will conduct a thorough study of the fragment of the primitive nebula which gave birth to our solar system some five billion years ago.

Rosetta is the first mission designed to both orbit and land on a comet and the spacecraft will conduct eleven scientific experiments to complete the most detailed study of a comet ever attempted.

Named after the famous Rosetta stone that led to the deciphering of Egyptian hieroglyphics almost 200 years ago, scientists hope the spacecraft will unlock the mysteries of how the Solar System evolved, by studying what are considered the most primitive objects, remnants of the formation of the solar system.

Although Rosetta's original target was Comet Wirtanen, this planned encounter had to be abandoned following the failure of the Ariane-5 launcher system with the loss of two spacecraft in December 2002, which prompted a decision not to launch Rosetta on schedule.

In May 2003 a new target comet and launch date for Rosetta were selected - comet, Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

The total cost of the ambitious ESA mission is put at one thousand million Euros, the ESA said that the launch delay alone cost 70 million Euros.

(SP)