A camera attached to the bottom of the Philae lander managed to snap photos of the comet's rugged terrain just before it made its historic landing Wednesday. The Rosetta timeline
March 2, 2004: Europe's unmanned probe Rosetta takes off from Kourou, French Guiana, after a series of delays, including an abandoned January 2003 launch window because of a rocket problem.Feb. 25, 2007: Rosetta carries out a close flyby of Mars. European Space Agency's mission control breaks out in applause after the end of 15 tense minutes of radio silence as the craft passes behind the Red Planet.Sept. 5, 2008: Probe successfully passes close to an asteroid 250 million miles from Earth. The spacecraft loses its radio signal for 90 minutes as planned during the flyby of the Steins asteroid, also known as Asteroid 2867.July 10, 2010: Between Mars and Jupiter, Rosetta transmits its first pictures from the largest asteroid ever visited by a satellite after it flies by Lutetia as close as 3,200 kilometres. It is the closest look to date at the Lutetia asteroid.Jan. 20, 2014: Waking after almost three years of hibernation, Rosetta sends its first signal back to Earth. Systems had been powered down in 2011 to conserve energy, leaving scientists in the dark for 31 months.Aug. 6, 2014: Rosetta swings alongside comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko somewhere between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.Nov. 12, 2014: The probe releases the Philae lander and it drops to the comet's surface. Seven hours later, Philae touches down on the comet.
Shortly after the European Space Agency announced the probe was successfully rooted atop the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet 500-million kilometres from Earth, an ESA twitter account posted a photo taken just three kilometres from the surface.
The shot was taken by Philae's Rosetta Lander Imaging System (ROLIS) - a down-facing camera designed to capture images of the comet as the 22-pound lander made its approach. After landing, ROLIS will get close-ups of the surface to 'study the texture and microstructure,' the ESA said.
Early Wednesday, Philae separated from the Rosetta spacecraft, beginning a tense, seven-hour descent to the comet.
'We are on the comment,' scientists announced around 11 a.m.
But thrusters that were meant to push the lander onto the surface and harpoons that would have anchored it to the comet failed to deploy properly. Initial data from the spacecraft indicated that it lifted off again, turned and then came to rest.
'Today we didn't just land once; we maybe even landed twice,' said Stephan Ulamac, head of the landing operation.
While further checks were needed to ascertain the state of the washing machine-sized lander, the fact that it was resting on the surface of the comet was already a huge success - the highlight of Rosetta's decade-long mission to study comets and learn more about the origins of these celestial bodies. Glimpses of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko from the mission so far:
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