Rosetta the comet chaser

January 2014. After a 10-year voyage, Rosetta space probe will have to be woken up. In a few months, it will have reached its goal: the comet 67P. At 450 million km from Earth a crucial stage in this European Space Agency mission will then unfold, the first in the history of solar system exploration to attempt this double challenge: to place a probe in orbit around the comet and to put a lander on its surface. A scenario full of tension and emotion.

Following the key stages of this unique space adventure, scientists explain why comets justify such a daring mission. Formed from an amalgamation of dust particles that orbited the Sun just after its formation 4.6 billion years ago, comets still contain the primitive materials that gave birth to the planets. They may also hold the keys to the origins of the Earth’s oceans and to life on our planet. With a total of 20 on board instruments, the Rosetta mission is poised to reveal essential new data on comets and on our origins.