Philae (2002)
This image depicts the first ever landing of a probe on the surface of a comet. The
lander, called Philae, is part of the European mission Rosetta, which was finally
launched on 2 March 2004. In early 2014, having spent ten years in space and having
travelled an incredible 4 billion miles, the Rosetta orbiter will encircle the comet
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and dispatch Philae down to the comet's surface to take
readings and analyse samples. Nobody is really sure what the surface will look like,
so the above is only an interpretation. Jets of dirty particles spew from cracks in
the surface — these are what make the comet's tail.
