12 years, 212 days
MISSION DURATION
TOTAL
3,000
KG
LAUNCH MASS
5
TARGETS
Earth, Mars, Asteroid Steins
Rosetta is a orbiter mission by ESA targeting Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Launched March 2, 2004.
ABOUT ROSETTA
Rosetta was the first mission to orbit a comet and land on its surface. After a 10-year journey, it arrived at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 and deployed the Philae lander. Rosetta discovered that cometary water has a different isotopic signature than Earth’s oceans, challenging theories about the origin of Earth’s water.
KEY DISCOVERIES
- Cometary water has different isotopic ratio than Earth oceans
- Amino acid glycine found on comet
- Molecular oxygen detected in comet coma
- Comet 67P is a contact binary (two lobes)
TECHNOLOGY & FIRSTS
- First spacecraft to orbit a comet
- First comet landing (Philae, November 2014)
- Accompanied comet through perihelion passage
SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS (11)
OSIRIS (camera)
ALICE (UV spectrograph)
VIRTIS (IR spectrometer)
MIRO (microwave)
ROSINA (mass spectrometer)
COSIMA (dust mass spectrometer)
GIADA (grain impact analyzer)
RPC (plasma)
RSI (radio science)
CONSERT (radio transmission)
Philae lander
SPACECRAFT SPECIFICATIONS
Launch Mass3,000 kg (6,615 lbs)
PowerSolar panels (64 m²)
Launch VehicleAriane 5G+
Launch DateMarch 2, 2004
Arrival DateAugust 6, 2014
Mission EndSeptember 30, 2016
ProgramHorizon 2000
MISSION TRAJECTORY
1
Earth
2
Mars
3
Asteroid Steins
4
Asteroid Lutetia
5
Comet 67P
🚀 LAUNCH MISSION