Rosetta was launched by the European Space Agency (ESA) on March 2, 2004, aboard an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. It will perform three Earth and one Mars gravity-assisted maneuvers to get itself to its final destination of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

The Rosetta spacecraft is named after the Rosetta Stone, a stone tablet originally discovered in Egypt in 1799 that has helped scientists decipher hieroglyphics. Likewise, scientists are hopeful that the Rosetta spacecraft will decipher some of the mysteries about how Earth’s solar system was created. The Philae lander was named after Philae, an island in the Nile where an obelisk was found that helped to decipher the Rosetta Stone.

Rosetta’s cameras took images in January 2007 of 21 Luetia as the asteroid flew across the flight path of the spacecraft. In February 2007, Rosetta will fly past Mars. Then, around September 5, 2008, it will do a fly-by of asteroid 2867 Šteins, only a few kilometers in diameter, at a distance of about 1,700 kilometers (1,050 miles) and at a relative speed of about 9 kilometers (5.6 miles) per second. Both asteroids are members of the main asteroid belt between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. Still later, Rosetta will perform a much closer observation of 21 Lutetia, which is about 100 kilometers (60 miles) in diameter, when it does a flyby around July 10, 2010, at a relative speed of about 15 kilometers (9.3 miles) per second.

In November 2014, Rosetta will then enter an orbit around comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and deplay its Philae lander. It will desend onto the comet at a relative speed of about 1 meter (3.3 feet) per second. Upon landing, harpoons and drills will be used to secure the lander to the comet's surface.

Once stationed on the comet, the scientific experiments aboard Philae will begin. Their primary mission is to study the comet’s nucleus, determine chemical compounds on and within the comet, and make general observations of the comet during its stay on its surface. In fact, Philae will make detail studies of the comet is it goes around the Sun between November 2014 and December 2015.

The orbiter and lander contain instruments to study the comet, interstellar materials, and the relationship between the two. As a consequence, the measurements may help to determine the origin of the solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. ALICE (An Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer) will look for noble gases (helium, neon, argon, krypton, xenon, and radon) within the comet’s core. MICRO (Microwave Instrument for the Rosetta Orbiter) will look for ammonia, carbon dioxide, water, and other compounds. OSIRIS (Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System) and VIRTIS (Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging Spectrometer) will take pictures of the core.

Various gases and particles will be searched for by: COSIMA (Cometary Secondary Ion Mass Analyzer), GIADA (Grain Impact Analyzer and Dust Accumulator), MIDAS (Micro-Imaging Dust Analysis System), ROSINA (Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis), and RPC (Rosetta Plasma Consortium).

David Southwood, Director of ESA’s Science Program, says of the Rosetta mission: "Comets and asteroids are the building blocks of our Earth and the other planets in the Solar System. Rosetta will conduct the most thorough analysis so far of three of these objects. Rosetta will face lots of challenges during its 12-year journey, but the scientific insights that we will gain into the origin of the Solar System and, possibly, of life are more than rewarding."

The ESA Web page for the Rosetta mission is: http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/area/index.cfm?fareaid=13.

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