In the aerospace context, "Rosetta" is the name of a European Space Agency (ESA) mission that aimed to study Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The mission included a spacecraft, called Rosetta, which was launched in 2004 and rendezvoused with the comet in 2014.
The spacecraft carried a lander module, called Philae, which successfully landed on the comet's surface and conducted experiments. The Rosetta mission ended in 2016, when the spacecraft was deliberately crashed into the comet's surface.
Some key achievements of the Rosetta mission include:
- The first spacecraft to rendezvous with a comet
- The first spacecraft to orbit a comet
- The first landing on a comet
- The first successful landing on a comet
- The first detection of water vapor on a comet
- The first evidence of organic molecules on a comet
- The first measurement of the magnetic field of a comet
- The first detection of a comet's rotation axis
- The first detection of a comet's magnetic field
Overall, Rosetta mission has provided valuable information about the composition and structure of comets and their role in the early solar system.