Rosetta's Mission comes to a spectacular Close
ESA's Rosetta mission will conclude on Friday, September 30, 2016 when the faraway spacecraft will make a gentle collision with comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko after a remarkably successful mission of twelve and a half years.
Launched in 2004, Rosetta completed a decade-long, 6.4-billion Kilometer journey taking it to the dark & cold reaches of the Solar System before arriving at its target - the two-lobed comet whose shape has become iconic after Rosetta delivered its first high-resolution photos of the distant world.
Philae, dispatched for an unprecedented landing in November, delivered up-close data from the dark surface while Rosetta complete a two-year examination of 67P to open a window into a distant past of the solar system.
Rosetta's Journey (Credit: ESA)
| Event | Date |
| Launch | 2 March 2004 |
| First Earth gravity assist | 4 March 2005 |
| Mars gravity assist | 25 February 2007 |
| Second Earth gravity assist | 13 November 2007 |
| Asteroid Steins flyby | 5 September 2008 |
| Third Earth gravity assist | 13 November 2009 |
| Asteroid Lutetia flyby | 10 July 2010 |
| Enter deep space hibernation | 8 June 2011 |
| Exit deep space hibernation | 20 January 2014 |
| Rendezvous manoeuvres begin | 7 May 2014 |
| Arrive at comet | 6 August 2014 |
| Start global mapping | 10 September 2014 |
| Lander delivery | 12 November 2014 |
| Perihelion passage | 13 August 2015 |
| End of mission | 30 September 2016 |
