Rosetta probe set to catch comet after ten year chase
After a journey that has lasted a decade, Europe's Rosetta spacecraft is now on its final approach to a comet, the BBC reported.
The tiny probe is set to rendezvous on Wednesday with one of the strangest objects in the solar system.
The latest in a series of manoeuvres will bring Rosetta to within 100km of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
One of the scientists leading this European Space Agency (Esa) venture described it as "the sexiest, most fantastic mission ever.”
With 67P hurtling along at 55,000 km per hour (34,000 mph), the spacecraft's speed has been adjusted so that in relative terms it will be flying beside the comet at a slow walking pace of 1m/sec (2.2mph, 3.6kph).
This has never been tried before - and because radio signals take more than 22 minutes to travel between Earth and the spacecraft, the main moves have to be pre-programmed.