Launch Success
Liftoff Time (GMT)
07:17:00
Tuesday March 2, 2004
First flight of Ariane 5G+. Flight V160.
Rosetta was a space probe built by the European Space Agency launched on 2 March 2004. Along with Philae, its lander module, Rosetta performed a detailed study of comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P). During its journey to the comet, the spacecraft flew by Mars and the asteroids 21 Lutetia and 2867 Šteins. It was launched as the third cornerstone mission of the ESA's Horizon 2000 programme, after SOHO / Cluster and XMM-Newton. On 6 August 2014, the spacecraft reached the comet and performed a series of manoeuvres to eventually orbit the comet at distances of 30 to 10 kilometres (19 to 6 mi). On 12 November, its lander module Philae performed the first successful landing on a comet, though its battery power ran out two days later. Communications with Philae were briefly restored in June and July 2015, but due to diminishing solar power, Rosetta's communications module with the lander was turned off on 27 July 2016. On 30 September 2016, the Rosetta spacecraft ended its mission by hard-landing on the comet in its Ma'at region. The probe was named after the Rosetta Stone, a stele of Egyptian origin featuring a decree in three scripts. The lander was named after the Philae obelisk, which bears a bilingual Greek and Egyptian hieroglyphic inscription.
Heliocentric Orbit
1 Payload
3,068 kilograms
Manufacturer
ESAPrice
$190.00 million
Rocket
Diameter: 5.4m
Payload to Orbit
GTO: 7,100 kg
Stages
2
Strap-ons
2
18th
Mission
1st
Mission of 2004
150th
Mission
1st
Mission of 2004
6th
Orbital launch attempt