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Missions and Programs

Rosetta Mission

Robotic Outer Solar System and Small-Body Missions

A European Space Agency mission that achieved the first orbital rendezvous with a comet, launched on 2 March 2004 to study comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta reached the comet in August 2014 and deployed the Philae lander for the first controlled soft landing on a comet nucleus, before the mission concluded with the orbiter's own controlled impact onto the comet's surface on 30 September 2016.

Facts
Mission Type
Robotic comet rendezvous and lander mission 1
Launch Date
2004-03-02 1
End Date
2016-09-30 1
Date of the orbiter's planned controlled impact onto comet 67P, ending the mission.
Outcome
Successful; achieved the first cometary orbit and the first soft landing on a comet nucleus before its own planned impact ended the mission in September 2016. 1
Mission Type
Mission Type (category)
Lander / Rover 1
Mission Type (category)
Robotic / Uncrewed Mission 1
Connections

Operated By

Source Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Sources
1. Wikipedia (space and spaceflight articles)
Wikimedia FoundationWikipedia: Rosetta (spacecraft), lead section
Quote, Wikipedia: Rosetta (spacecraft), lead section
Along with Philae, its lander module, Rosetta performed a detailed study of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
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