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   From: helmut@lycos.de   
      
   (Reuters) - 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 examine up close the remnants of the   
   birth of Earth's solar system.   
      
   The 100-kg (220-pound) lander - virtually weightless on the   
   comet's surface - touched down on schedule at about 1100 ET   
   after a seven-hour descent from spacecraft Rosetta around half a   
   billion kilometers (300 million miles) from Earth.   
      
   During the launch, harpoons designed to anchor the probe, named   
   Philae, failed to deploy and the ESA is having to consider   
   options for refiring them to ensure it does not drift back into   
   space.   
      
   Scientists hope that samples from the surface of 67P/Churyumov-   
   Gerasimenko will help show how planets and life are created as   
   the rock and ice that make up comets preserve organic molecules   
   like a time-capsule.   
      
   Comets come from the formation of Earth's 4.6-billion-year-old   
   solar system and scientists believe they may have brought much   
   of the water in Earth's oceans.   
      
   "How audacious, how exciting, how unbelievable to be able to   
   dare to land on a comet," NASA's director of Planetary Science,   
   Jim Green said at the European Space Operations Center in   
   Germany after the landing was announced.   
      
   Manmade craft have now landed on seven bodies in space: the   
   moon, Mars, Venus, Saturn's moon Titan, two asteroids and comet   
   Tempel-1, which was hit by a NASA probe.   
      
   Among several records set by the mission, Rosetta has become the   
   first spacecraft to orbit a comet rather than just flying past   
   to take pictures.   
      
   Rosetta reached the comet, a roughly 3-by-5 km rock discovered   
   in 1969, in August after a journey of 6.4 billion km that took   
   10 years, five months and four days - a mission that cost close   
   to 1.4 billion euros ($1.8 billion).   
      
   "What really nails this experience for me are the images,"   
   Daniel Brown, an expert in astronomy at Nottingham Trent   
   University, said via email after three-legged Philae had relayed   
   data and images back to Earth as it moved towards the comet.   
      
   "Especially exciting will be getting the results of the samples   
   recovered from below the surface and seeing their chemical   
   composition," he said.   
      
   (Additional reporting by Irene Klotz in Cape Canaveral, Fla;   
   Editing by Louise Ireland)   
      
   http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/12/us-space-comet-   
   idUSKCN0IW0S520141112   
      
       
      
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