Space Probe Rosetta

Robotic comet explorer Rosetta sent home a last-gasp photo of her target's rocky facade before crashing into its surface to end a 12-year deep-space odyssey, ground controllers said Thursday.

Europe's pioneering Rosetta spacecraft concluded a 12-year odyssey with a controlled crash-landing Friday onto the comet it has orbited and probed for two years to unravel the secrets of the Solar System's birth, mission controllers said.

"When finally we 'kill' Philae, it will be like 'who killed Bambi'," ESA senior science adviser Mark McCaughrean said.

A comet hosting the Philae robot and orbited by the Rosetta spacecraft zipped by past the Sun on Thursday with all systems go, The European Space Agency said.

Europe's comet-riding robot lab Philae has fallen "silent", said ground controllers today who feared it may have shifted on the rough, alien surface, out of radio range.

"I'm awake! How long have I been asleep?" This message was tweeted on Sunday by the European Space Agency's spacecraft Philae. The probe tumbled into a dark ditch on a comet last November after problems landing on the icy surface. Deprived of sunlight, Philae's solar panels were unable to supply power, and the craft was feared lost. But Philae's re...

ESA said it had received signals from the lander late on Thursday.

No trumpet sounded to mark the historic event -- instead, it was a hollow, springy plop which heralded last week's landing by the comet probe Philae.

A probe that landed on a comet in a first for space exploration has ended up in the shadow of a cliff, about a kilometre (0.6 miles) from its intended resting place, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Thursday.

Europe's comet probe Philae was "working well" despite a rough-and-tumble touchdown that left it partly shadowed from battery-boosting sunlight, ground controllers said Thursday.

Europe's robot lab Philae was "working well" on the surface of its host comet, though likely perched on a steep slope, ground controllers said a day after the probe made its historic landing.

The European Space Agency on Thursday published the first image taken from the surface of a comet, and said that its Philae lander is still "stable" despite a failure to latch on properly to the rocky terrain.

Google celebrates the historic landing of European Space Agency's probe Philae on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in a rather iconic way.

The European Space Agency (ESA) landed a probe on a comet on Wednesday, a first in space exploration and the climax of a decade-long mission to get samples from what are the remnants of the birth of Earth's solar system.

European scientists launched a probe from spaceship Rosetta on Wednesday in an historic attempt to examine the surface of a comet, starting a seven-hour descent that marks the most nail-biting phase of a ten-year mission.

Robotic comet explorer Rosetta sent home a last-gasp photo of her target's rocky facade before crashing into its surface to end a 12-year deep-space odyssey, ground controllers said Thursday.

Europe's pioneering Rosetta spacecraft concluded a 12-year odyssey with a controlled crash-landing Friday onto the comet it has orbited and probed for two years to unravel the secrets of the Solar System's birth, mission controllers said.

"When finally we 'kill' Philae, it will be like 'who killed Bambi'," ESA senior science adviser Mark McCaughrean said.

A comet hosting the Philae robot and orbited by the Rosetta spacecraft zipped by past the Sun on Thursday with all systems go, The European Space Agency said.

Europe's comet-riding robot lab Philae has fallen "silent", said ground controllers today who feared it may have shifted on the rough, alien surface, out of radio range.

"I'm awake! How long have I been asleep?" This message was tweeted on Sunday by the European Space Agency's spacecraft Philae. The probe tumbled into a dark ditch on a comet last November after problems landing on the icy surface. Deprived of sunlight, Philae's solar panels were unable to supply power, and the craft was feared lost. But Philae's re...

ESA said it had received signals from the lander late on Thursday.

No trumpet sounded to mark the historic event -- instead, it was a hollow, springy plop which heralded last week's landing by the comet probe Philae.

A probe that landed on a comet in a first for space exploration has ended up in the shadow of a cliff, about a kilometre (0.6 miles) from its intended resting place, the European Space Agency (ESA) said on Thursday.

Europe's comet probe Philae was "working well" despite a rough-and-tumble touchdown that left it partly shadowed from battery-boosting sunlight, ground controllers said Thursday.

Europe's robot lab Philae was "working well" on the surface of its host comet, though likely perched on a steep slope, ground controllers said a day after the probe made its historic landing.

The European Space Agency on Thursday published the first image taken from the surface of a comet, and said that its Philae lander is still "stable" despite a failure to latch on properly to the rocky terrain.

Google celebrates the historic landing of European Space Agency's probe Philae on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in a rather iconic way.

The European Space Agency (ESA) landed a probe on a comet on Wednesday, a first in space exploration and the climax of a decade-long mission to get samples from what are the remnants of the birth of Earth's solar system.

European scientists launched a probe from spaceship Rosetta on Wednesday in an historic attempt to examine the surface of a comet, starting a seven-hour descent that marks the most nail-biting phase of a ten-year mission.