Rosetta mission extended, probe may land on comet 67P

DARMSTADT, Germany, June 24 (UPI) -- Officials at the European Space Agency have announced the continuation of the Rosetta mission. The probe will continue orbiting Comet 67P for an extra nine months, through September 2016.

During the extended mission, the probe is expected to attempt a number of potentially risky maneuvers, and may even try to land on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

ESA's budget originally funded the mission through the end of the year, but officials with the agency's Science Programme Committee recently agreed to fork over the money to keep the project alive.

"This is fantastic news for science," Matt Taylor, lead scientist on the Rosetta mission, said in a press release. "We'll be able to monitor the decline in the comet's activity as we move away from the sun again, and we'll have the opportunity to fly closer to the comet to continue collecting more unique data. By comparing detailed before and after data, we'll have a much better understanding of how comets evolve during their lifetimes."

Rosetta will make its closest approach to the sun in August. Researchers hope to use their extra orbit time to move the probe closer to the nucleus in order to document the chemical and physical changes precipitated by the comet's "summer." This close orbit will also give scientists one last chance to locate the Philae lander.

Engineers also hope to initiate slightly riskier moves, like sending Rosetta across the night-side of the comet to study the plasma, dust and gas interactions -- as well as to collect samples of the dust and debris spewed from the comet's innards.

Finally, scientists want to end the mission with a touchdown.

"This time, as we're riding along next to the comet, the most logical way to end the mission is to set Rosetta down on the surface," said Patrick Martin, Rosetta's mission manager.

Whether that means a controlled landing or a fiery crash is open for debate.