BERLIN/FRANKFURT: The European Space Agency (ESA) landed a probe on a comet yesterday, a first in space exploration and the climax of a decade-long mission to examine up close the remnants of the birth of Earth’s solar system.
The 100kg lander — virtually weightless on the comet’s surface — touched down on schedule at about 1600 GMT after a seven-hour descent from spacecraft Rosetta around 300 million miles from Earth. Scientists hope that samples from the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko will help show how planets and life are created as the rock and ice that make up comets preserve organic molecules like a time-capsule.
Reuters
