On September 30, 2016, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft concluded its mission by executing a controlled, slow-motion crash landing onto Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Launched in March 2004, the 1.3 billion-euro mission made history as the first to orbit a comet and track its evolution as it approached the sun.
A Decade-Long Chase Through the Inner Solar System
The Rosetta probe spent a full decade traversing the solar system before finally rendezvoused with Comet 67P in August 2014. The rubber-duck-shaped celestial body, an icy remnant left over from the birth of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago, became home to the orbiter for two years of intensive study.
Mission scientists watched from a control center in Darmstadt, Germany, as the spacecraft made its final 14-hour descent toward the comet’s surface. Hitting the comet at a leisurely walking pace of about 2 mph, Rosetta joined its tiny lander, Philae, which had bounced onto the surface years prior.
Why Mission Controllers Chose a Controlled Crash
By September 2016, Comet 67P was heading back out toward the outer solar system in the direction of Jupiter. The probe’s solar panels would not be able to generate enough power to keep pace with the comet so far out. The European Space Agency opted for a targeted impact.
Patrick Martin, Rosetta mission manager, declared the operation complete at the time. "I can announce the full success of this historic descent," Martin said. "Farewell Rosetta, you’ve done the job. That was pure science at its best." The data gathered by Rosetta continues to shape modern planetary science and our understanding of early solar system composition.
