Rosetta probe smashes into Comet 67P in dramatic end to historic mission

THE Rosetta spacecraft has concluded its historic 12 year journey by smashing into the surface of a comet.

The European Space Agency confirmed the dramatic landing by tweeting out the words "mission complete".

ESA controllers burst into applause when the crunch ending to the £1 billion mission was confirmed at 12.20pm, UK time.

Rosetta had already been lying in its lonely resting place 485 million miles away on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for nearly an hour, because of the 40 minutes it took for radio signals travel to Earth.

A decision was taken to carry out the "controlled impact" because the comet is taking Rosetta so far from the Sun that soon its solar panels will not be able to generate sufficient power.

The spacecraft came down in the rugged Ma'at region of the comet, which is littered with boulders and deep active pits known to produce jets of gas and dust.

Despite travelling at just 1.1mph the craft was not designed for landing and had no chance of survival.

Mission controllers knew the end had come when radio communication with Rosetta was lost.
A note signed by the team and left on the main control room door at the European Space Operations Centre said: "Farewell Rosetta! We will miss you."

Paolo Ferri, ESA head of mission operations, said: "I think everybody's very sad. On the other hand the end of the mission had to come. It was a spectacular way to do it, and we're quite convinced it was the right thing to do."

Scientists chose to crash Rosetta on the smaller of the three-mile-long rubber duck-shaped comet's two lobes, just a few kilometres from where its tiny lander Philae is lodged in a deep crevice.

Rosetta reached comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on August 6, 2014, after an epic 10-year journey across four billion miles of space.

The spacecraft and its lander, which bounced onto the surface of the comet on November, 2014, have produced a wealth of data providing valuable clues about the origins of the solar system and life on Earth.

Key discoveries include an unusual form of water not common on Earth and carbon-containing organic molecules that are the building blocks of life.

The mission has managed several historic firsts, such as getting a spacecraft into orbit around a comet and the unprecedented landing of a probe on the surface of a comet. A handful of previous spacecraft snapped pictures and collected data as they flew past their targets.

Daniel Brown, an astronomy expert at Nottingham Trent University, said the images sent back from the Rosetta mission were "as powerful as Neil Armstrong's first steps on the Moon".

Data collected by Rosetta and lander Philae, which reached the surface in November 2014, is already helping scientists better understand how the Earth and other planets formed.

For example, scientists now believe that asteroids, not comets were primarily responsible for delivering water to Earth and other planets in the inner solar system, possibly setting the stage for life.

"We've just scratched the surface of the science. We're ending the mission, but the science will continue for many years," Taylor said.

Rosetta will free-fall into the comet at the speed of a sedate walk, but it is not designed to withstand the impact.

The European Space Agency is ending the mission because 67P is racing toward the outer solar system, out of range for the solar-powered spacecraft.

Rosetta also has been subjected to the harsh radiation and extreme temperatures of space since launching in March 2004 and is unlikely to last too much longer.