Space history as probe lands on comet

The European probe Philae has made the first-ever landing on a comet, a crowning phase in a quest to explore the origins of the Solar System, the European Space Agency (ESA) said Wednesday.

The robot lab landed on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko around seven hours after separating from its mother ship Rosetta more than 510 million kilometres (320 million miles) from Earth, it said.

"Philae is talking to us," said Stephan Ulamec, the lander's manager. "We are on the comet."

"We definitely confirm that the lander is on the surface," said Andrea Accomazzo, flight operations director. "We can't be happier than what we we are now."

"This is a big step for human civilization," said the agency's director general, Jean-Jacques Dordain, as a crowd of scientists, guests and VIPs cheered and applauded in relief.  

"Touchdown! My new address: 67P!," Philae's team tweeted.

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Journalists film near a giant screen featuring European Space Agency scientists celebrating the success. (AFP)

Scientists hope the lander, equipped with 10 instruments, will unlock the secrets of comets -- primordial clusters of ice and dust that may have helped sow life on Earth.

Getting from Earth to a comet that is travelling towards the Sun at 18 kilometres per second (11 miles per second) was a landmark in space engineering and celestial mathematics.

The 1.3-billion-euro ($1.6-billion) Rosetta mission was approved in 1993.

Rosetta, carrying Philae, was hoisted into space in 2004, and took more than a decade to reach its target in August this year, having used the gravitational pull of Earth and Mars as slingshots to build up speed.

The pair covered 6.5 billion km together before the separation Wednesday prior to the landing.

AFP

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A model of the European Space Agency's (ESA) robot craft Philae at the Cite de l'espace (Space City) in Toulouse, southern France, the day Philae began a 20-kilometre (12-mile) descent toward  the Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet after being launched from the space probe Rosetta, following a ten year journey. (AFP)
 

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Scientists wait for the first picture transmitted by the European Space Agency's (ESA) robot craft Philae, in the scientific mission observation centre of the French space agency Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) in Toulouse, southern France. (AFP)
 

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The entrance of the ESA/ESOC (European Space Agency / European Space Operation Center) in Darmstadt, western Germany. (AFP)
 

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A handout picture released by the European Space Agency (ESA) on Wednesday shows Europe's Rosetta spacecraft pictured by its robot craft Philae shortly after separation and with about 10m between the two probes. (AFP/ESA)
 

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Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA (European Space Agency) Director General reacts at the European Space Agency ESA/ESOC in Darmstadt, western Germany after the announcement of the first-ever landing on a comet, done by European probe Philae. (AFP)
 

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A handout photo released on November 12, 2014 by the European Space Agency and acquired the same day by the ROLIS (ROsetta Lander Imaging System) instrument, a descent and close-up camera on the Philae Lander, shows the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko during Philae's descent at 14:38:41 UT, from a distance of approximately 3 km from the surface. (AFP/ESA)