ROSSETA

Rosetta (spacecraft)

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Rosetta is a robotic space probe built and launched by the European Space Agency. Along with Philae, its lander module,Rosetta is performing a detailed study of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P).^[6][7]

Rosetta was launched on 2 March 2004 on an Ariane 5 rocket and reached the comet on 6 August 2014,^[8] becoming the first spacecraft to orbit a comet.^[9][10][11] (Previous missions had conducted successful flybys of seven other comets.^[12]) It is one of ESA's Horizon 2000 cornerstone missions.^[13] The spacecraft consistsRosetta orbiter, which features 12 instruments, and the Philae lander, with nine additional instruments.^[14] The Rosetta mission will orbit 67P for 17 months and is designed to complete the most detailed study of a comet ever attempted. The spacecraft is controlled from the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), in Darmstadt, Germany.^[15] The planning for the operation of the scientific payload, together with the data retrieval, calibration, archiving and distribution, is performed from the European Space Astronomy Centre (ESAC), inVillanueva de la Cañada, near Madrid, Spain.^[16] It has been estimated that in the decade preceding 2014, some 2,000 people assisted in the mission in some capacity.^[17]

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The probe is named after the Rosetta Stone, a stele of Egyptian origin featuring a decree in three scripts. The lander is named after the Philae obelisk, which bears a bilingual Greek and Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription. A comparison of its hieroglyphs with those on the Rosetta Stone catalysed the deciphering of the Egyptian writing system.