The main Rosetta spacecraft will follow Comet 67P for the next year and observe it as it heads toward the sun. However, Rosetta will not approach the sun too closely. Its closest approach to our star is still outside the orbit of Earth.
The Philae probe is the result of a joint effort by scientists and space agencies in many countries from the European Union and the United States. Three experiments on the spaceship come from the U.S. space agency NASA.
Photos sent back to Earth from Rosetta show Comet 67P's surface as a rough world of rocky formations and ice.
Rosetta is named after the stone that helped unlock the hieroglyphic language of the ancient Egyptians. ESA Director Thomas Reiter has this to say about the mission:
“It’s aim, of course, to unlock the secrets hidden within the icy treasure chest of a 4.6 billion years (old) object, to study its make-up and its history. To search for clues