The European Space Agency said it has succeeded in landing a spacecraft on a comet for the first time in history.
The agency said it received a signal from the 100-kilogram Philae lander after it touched down just after 1600 GMT on Wednesday on the icy surface of the comet named 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. “We are on the comet,” the agency tweeted.
The landing on the speeding comet marks the highlight of the decade-long Rosetta spacecraft’s mission to study comets and learn more about the origins of these celestial bodies.
Flight director Andrea Accomazzo said “We definitely confirm that the lander is on the surface.”
Further checks are needed to ascertain the state of the lander.
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.
Philae Lander followed up with its own tweet: Touchdown! My new address: 67P! #Cometlanding
The landing capped a 6.4 billion-kilometer journey by the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft, launched a decade ago to study the four-kilometer-wide 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet.
