The first spacecraft to ever orbit and land on a comet

Space · Published 8 October 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: Landing on a comet is not like landing on a planet. It requires navigating an unpredictable environment of dust, gas, and plasma. To achieve this historic feat, the Rosetta mission had to deploy a specialized probe capable of anchoring itself to a moving celestial body with surgical precision.

The European Space Agency's Rosetta mission represented a milestone in space exploration as the first endeavor designed to orbit and land on a comet. The mission targeted comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, carrying a suite of 20 scientific instruments to study the object over a two-year period as it orbited the Sun. A major turning point occurred in August 2014, when Rosetta became the first spacecraft to successfully enter orbit around a comet.

The mission's climax took place on November 12, 2014, with the release of the Philae lander. The separation occurred approximately 22 kilometers from the comet's center, and while it took about 28 minutes and 20 seconds for a confirmation signal to reach Earth, the actual descent lasted seven hours. During this period, Philae captured images and sampled the local environment—including dust, gas, plasma, and magnetic fields—to prepare for its primary science mission.

Anchoring to a comet presented unique engineering challenges. To secure itself, Philae utilized three lander legs designed to absorb impact momentum and drive ice screws into the surface. Simultaneously, two harpoons fired to lock the probe in place, while a small thruster on top counteracted the impulse of the landing. Once anchored, the lander had an initial battery lifetime of 64 hours to conduct experiments like SESAME, which used acoustic waves via the CASSE instrument to determine soil properties.

The mission concluded on September 30, 2016, with a successful controlled impact on the comet's surface. This journey provided humanity with its first-ever images of a comet taken directly from its surface, offering unprecedented insights into the composition and history of these icy celestial bodies.

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