Publication date: 22 July 2014

Journal: ESA Brochure
Volume: 318
Year: 2014

Copyright: ESA

Rosetta is ESA's comet-chasing mission to 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Launched on 2 March 2004, the spacecraft travelled for 10 years and required three gravity-assist flybys at Earth and one at Mars before homing in on its target.

Comets are considered to be the most primitive building blocks of our cosmic neighbourhood, surviving the Solar System's chaotic 4.6 billion-year history more or less intact. Laced with ice and organic materials, comets likely helped to 'seed' Earth with water, and perhaps even the ingredients for life. By studying one of these icy treasure chests in great detail, ESA's Rosetta is set to unlock the secrets of the Solar System.

Table of contents:

• Rosetta: Europe's comet-chaser
• The long trek
• Fleeting flybys of battered worlds
• Hot and cold
• What do we know about comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko?
• Rendezvous with a comet
• Landing on a comet
• The Rosetta orbiter
• The Philae lander
• Escorting a comet
• Long-distance communications
• An international enterprise
• Join the adventure

Note: a more recent Rosetta mission brochure (ESA BR-321) is available here.

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