Rosetta, artist's view

Did comets bring water to Earth?

Comets contain key information as to the physical and chemical properties of the nebula from which our Solar System was born. In 1986, ESA’s pioneering Giotto mission detected organic molecules on Halley’s Comet reopening the old question: Could water and life have arrived on Earth from space?

Rosetta, launched in 2004, will orbit the nucleus of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 to study its composition. En route it will pass through the asteroid belt marking the first European encounter with these primitive objects.

Results from Rosetta and its Philae lander will provide scientists with a wealth of information about comets and asteroids that are essential for a better understanding of the formation of our Sun and its surroundings.

For more information on this image, please click on the following link: Rosetta, artist’s view.