On August 6th 2014, the European Space Agency announced that after a ten year journey, its Rosetta Spacecraft had finally arrived at its rendezvous with comet 67P Churyumov - Gerasimenko. Rosetta will continue to orbit 67P on its journey toward the sun, and then as it makes its way around it in August 2015.
As Rosetta approached comet 67P, it detected water in the comet's ejected gases and took the comet's temperature. Scientists discovered that the comet's temperature is 20 degrees warmer then one would expect an icy body to be. In the weeks to come, Rosetta will hover ahead of the 4 kilometers comet, while it gradually spirals inward. It may come as close as between 30 to 10 kilometers of 67P.
In November 2014, the ESA plans to place the robotic scientific lab, Philae on the surface of P67. It will be the first ever landing on a comet. The Philae lander will latch on to the comet's surface with the aid of an explosive harpoon. Philae will analyze soil samples taken from the surface of 67P. The lander will also send x-rays through the comet's nucleus back to sensors on the Rosetta spacecraft that will reveal the comet's structure.
Scientist at the ESA hope to learn more about the composition of comets and whether or not they brought water to the Earth. They also hope to discover whether comets are responsible for bringing the Earth, the building blocks of life.
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