ESA's historic Rosetta mission concluded as planned, on 30 September 2016, with a controlled impact onto the comet it had been investigating for more than two years. The mission was launched on 2 March 2004, on a 10-year journey towards comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. En route, it passed by two asteroids, 2867 Steins (in 2008) and 21 Lutetia (in 2010), before entering deep-space hibernation mode in June 2011. On 20 January 2014, it 'woke up' and prepared for arrival at the comet in August that year. On 12 November, the mission deployed its Philae probe to the comet, the first time in history that such an extraordinary feat was achieved. During the next phase of the mission, Rosetta accompanied the comet through perihelion (13 August 2015) until the end of the mission.
Rosetta finds comet connection to Earth's atmosphere 08 June 2017 The challenging detection, by ESA's Rosetta mission, of several isotopes of the noble gas xenon at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has established the first quantitative link between comets and the atmosphere of Earth. Read more
Rosetta's intimate portrait of a comet: read all about it 04 April 2017 Rosetta's pioneering mission to explore a comet in unprecedented detail completed operations last year. As the science continues, members of the public, as well as scientists, can freely access hundreds of papers that reveal the comet's secrets. A special issue of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society is the latest journal to provide this service. Read more
Before and after: unique changes spotted on Rosetta's comet 21 March 2017 Growing fractures, collapsing cliffs, rolling boulders and moving material burying some features on the comet's surface while exhuming others are among the remarkable changes documented during Rosetta's mission. Read more
Collapsing cliff reveals comet's interior 21 March 2017 Rosetta scientists have made the first compelling link between an outburst of dust and gas and the collapse of a prominent cliff, which also exposed the pristine, icy interior of the comet. Read more
Rosetta's last words: science descending to a comet 15 December 2016 On 30 September 2016, at 11:19:37 UTC in ESA's mission control, Rosetta's signal flat-lined, confirming that the spacecraft had completed its incredible mission on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko some 40 minutes earlier and 720 million km from Earth. Read more
Icy surprises at Rosetta's comet 17 November 2016 As Rosetta's comet approached its most active period last year, the spacecraft spotted carbon dioxide ice – never before seen on a comet – followed by the emergence of two unusually large patches of water ice. Read more
Rosetta Science Highlights Briefing - Presentations 30 September 2016 Rosetta science experts presented the key discoveries made at Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, in a dedicated briefing at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre on 29 September, ahead of the mission’s finale on 30 September 2016. Available presentations can be downloaded from here in pdf format. Read more
The surprising comet 26 September 2016 As Rosetta began homing in on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in the weeks leading up to its arrival in August 2014, it became very clear that this was no ordinary comet. But its striking shape was only just the beginning of the comet's surprises. Read more
Impressions of Rosetta's legacy: an e-book 23 December 2016 In September–October 2016, over 200 people contributed to the Rosetta Legacy campaign, sharing stories, images, videos, creations and experiences to convey what the mission had meant to them. Read more
OSIRIS Data Release: March–May 2015 22 December 2016 A new batch of thousands of images from Rosetta's OSIRIS imaging system have been released into ESA's Archive Image Browser and the Planetary Science Archive. Read more
Reflections 12 December 2016 Some ten weeks have passed since Rosetta ended its mission on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, and it is time for a little reflection here on the Rosetta blog... Read more
An encounter with Klim Churyumov 11 November 2016 Two years ago this week, the entire world was getting ready for a historic endeavour in space: the first soft landing of a human-made probe on a comet. The day before landing I had the pleasure to briefly meet Professor Churyumov and even asked him a few questions, taking down notes with the help of his interpreters. Read more
Last NAVCAM archive release 20 October 2016 The last batch of NAVCAM images taken by Rosetta during the final month of its incredible mission at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko have been released to the Archive Image Browser. The image set covers the period 2-30 September when the spacecraft was on elliptical orbits that sometimes brought it to within 2 km of the comet's surface. Read more
CometWatch - NavCam images 30 September 2016 Images of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko taken by Rosetta's navigation camera (NavCam). Last images are from 30 September 2016. Read more
Rosetta Ground Based Campaign: Calling All Amateur Astronomers 08 April 2015 Are you an amateur astronomer? The Rosetta mission has an opportunity for you, one that will allow you to collaborate with professional astronomers and study a comet in tandem with a real space mission. Read more
ScienceCasts: How to Land on a Comet 05 November 2014 The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft is about to attempt something "ridiculously difficult" - landing a probe on the surface of a speeding comet. Read more
Rosetta features in Von Karman Lecture Series 13 October 2014 Art Chmielewski (US Rosetta Project Manager) and Claudia Alexander (US Rosetta Project Scientist) presented the mission to an audience attending the Von Karman Lecture Series at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory on October 9. Read more
Rosetta-Alice spectrograph to begin first-ever close up ultraviolet studies of comet surface and atmosphere 10 June 2014 After a 10-year journey that began in March 2004, the European Space Agency's Rosetta comet orbiter has its sights set on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The orbiter's payload, including the Alice ultraviolet (UV) spectrograph developed by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), is poised to begin the first orbital and closest-ever observations of a comet. Read more
NASA Instruments on Rosetta Start Comet Science 10 June 2014 Three NASA science instruments aboard the European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft, which is set to become the first to orbit a comet and land a probe on its nucleus, are beginning observations and sending science data back to Earth. Read more
ScienceCasts: Rosetta Comet Comes Alive 04 June 2014 Later this year, Europe's Rosetta probe will orbit and land on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. New images of the comet show that it will be a lively place when Rosetta arrives. Read more
Rosetta's journey around the comet 
