The Comet Chaser Awakes!

You may have seen this in the news. The European Space Agency’s “Rosetta” spacecraft was launched ten years ago with the plan for it to intercept Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko and drop a probe onto its surface this year.

Rosetta has been in hibernation for 2 1/2 years and was just stirred back to life yesterday by the ESA center in Germany.

The comet interception is set to happen this fall. There have been other spacecraft-to-comet missions before, but this will be the first time that a craft goes into orbit around a comet and anchors a probe to its surface. Here’s what it’s supposed to look like:

Rosetta-Philae-Artist-Impression-2

A little impressive, no?