The exploration of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko by the ESA/Rosetta mission
Dr Dominique Bockelee-Morvan (Observatoire Paris-Site de Meudon, France)

In August of 2014, Rosetta became the first spacecraft to orbit a comet. In November 2014, 
the robotic lander, Philae, was successfully deployed to the surface of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta has accompanied the comet during its closest approach to the Sun in August 2015 and when it was moving back into the outer solar system, to finally make a controlled impact onto the comet on 30 September 2016. Rosettaˇ¦s rendezvous with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has opened a new chapter in Solar System exploration. Comets are considered to be the building blocks of the Solar System and may have helped to seed the Earth with water, making life possible.