Originally posted by Wikinews. Wikinews content appears under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 license except where specified. As these articles are static snapshots of news items that may be later updated, they may not represent the latest or final revision of that article, and posted information may be only preliminary. Philae space probe lands on comet ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- November 13, 2014 Original URL: http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Philae_space_probe_lands_on_comet Scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA) announced yesterday the ''Philae'' space probe, as part of the ''Rosetta'' mission, has landed on a comet called Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. It is the first time ever a controlled landing has been made on a comet. Scientists say the anchors that hold the probe on the comet's surface malfunctioned and they are investigating this. Although the anchors malfunctioned, many have treated the mission as a success. The ESA director general said, "Our ambitious Rosetta mission has secured a place in the history books". The space probe took a decade and traveled six billion kilometers to reach the comet, as it orbited through the solar system. The purpose of the Rosetta mission is to learn how a comet works and to investigate the origins of planets. Scientists plan on gathering data on the comet from the probe for about a year. They plan to see how the comet interacts with the sun's solar winds. Comets may possibly have been a source of water delivery to the earth along with organic matter that can form proteins and support life. Scientists hope to understand how planets form, especially how the Earth formed, since comets collided with the Earth long ago. == Related news == * Rosetta spacecraft passes Lutetia asteroid == Sources == * http://www.cnn.com/2014/11/12/world/comet-landing-countdown/index.html * http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/12/us-space-comet-idUSKCN0IW0S520141112 * http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/11/12/spacecraft-descent-comet/18900867/ * http://edition.cnn.com/2014/11/10/tech/innovation/rosetta-comet-landing-experts/index.html .