Touchdown! Rosetta probe successfully lands on giant comet in space first

The Rosetta mission has successfully landed a probe on a comet moving at 34,000mph in a historic first for space exploration. Scientists cheered and punched the air in the European Space (ESA) control room when they received confirmation that the Philae lander was sending signals from the comet. The Rosetta mission blasted off from French Guiana in March 2004 and has travelled more than four billion miles to reach its target. Scientists used gravity to act as a catapult, plotting co-ordinates which took the orbiter around the Earth three times and Mars once.

This is a big step for human civilisation.

ESA Director-General Jean-Jacques Dordain

They even placed the spacecraft into deep space hibernation to conserve energy - it woke up after 31 months when it passed close to the Sun and was charged by solar rays. Chief scientist Matt Taylor said the analysis of the data from the surface, together with Earth-based observations, could provide our most detailed ever snapshot of a comet. It is believed that comets which formed over four billion years ago could hold the key to how Earth was ‘seeded’ with water and organic matter, providing the building blocks for life.

This particular class of comet, Jupiter class comets, showed a similar flavour of water to what we see on Earth so possibly comets could have delivered the Earth’s oceans, so water - and ultimately us, because we are made of water.

Chief scientist Matt Taylor

Science Rosetta