Rosetta spacecraft begins daring comet landing attempt
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Darmstadt, Germany (dpa) - The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft dispatched a robot to land on a comet's surface Wednesday, ten years after beginning its pursuit through the solar system.
Rosetta sent the robotic lander known as Philae to rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko shortly after 0830 GMT.
If successful, it will be the first time a probe has touched down on a comet, marking a new milestone in the history of space exploration.
"Ready when you are, @ESA_Rosetta. Give me a little nudge?" posted the ESA on Twitter.
Half an hour later, the agency's control centre in the German town of Darmstadt confirmed the lander had successfully separated from the satellite.
The robot's descent to the comet was expected to take a seven hours.
Sticking the landing was proving to be tricky. Problems with the robot's thruster meant it might have to use harpoons and ice screws to affix itself to the comet, the ESA said.
Launched in 2004 at a cost of around 1 billion euros, the Rosetta mission aims to shed light on the origins of the solar system some4.6 billion years ago.
Comets are primitive building blocks of the solar system. Information gathered by the lander and the spacecraft may help determine, for example, whether comets provided Earth with water.
