Comet-chaser
Since launch in 2004, Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft has switched to ” sleep-hibernation” for almost after three years in travel in space itself alone, and has woken up – “back to work for comet-chaser”
Now it’s ready on the way to land on a Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August 2014.
Why wants to land a comet to study?
The Rosetta spacecraft will prepare to dispatch its lander “Philae” to land the comet for a close-up study of the comet nucleus.
By studying the comet, scientists hope to get a clearer idea of how the solar system was formed billions of years ago.