Rosetta off to decipher a comet's secrets

"Hello World." Upon hearing that brief message, scientists at the European Space Agency (ESA) and followers around the world sent up a collective cheer. Rosetta—the ESA spacecraft currently on a 10-year mission to orbit and land on a comet—awoke in January after a three-year hibernation, and was ready to get to work.

The Rosetta spacecraft launched on March 2, 2004, to study Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. In August, Rosetta will enter the comet's orbit. By November, scientists will plant a lander on the comet, in the hope of learning more about the conditions at the dawn of our solar system.

Read all about Rosetta's mission and what scientists hope to learn about our origins in the July issue of EARTH Magazine: http://bit.ly/TpKFcP.

For more stories about the science of our planet, check out EARTH Magazine online or subscribe at http://www.earthmagazine.org. The July issue, now available on the digital newsstand, features stories on preserving a petrified forest in Peru, creationism coming to the county fair, and Triassic fossils showing live birth, plus much, much more.

Provided by American Geosciences Institute