Scientists have said goodbye to perhaps one of the most ambitious projects ever launched by humanity.
The Rosetta spacecraft – which has spent two years finding out everything it can about the comet it orbits around – will die when it crashes into its surface.
Two years after Rosetta dropped the lander Philae onto a comet, the pair will be re-united. Neither will ever be able to communicate with Earth again – a decision made because the craft was about to become too far away from the sun to communicate with Earth anyway.
All it took to destroy the craft, and with it bring an end to Europe’s most successful space project ever, was 249 lines of instructions. They told Rosetta to fire its thrusters for 208 seconds, which put it on a collision course with the comet it has spent years orbiting around.
When it hits the ground, it will join the tiny lander it dropped onto the comet’s surface last November on the comet’s surface. Before the lander was dropped, the two had spent ten years flying through space on their way to the comet.
The £1 billion quest ends around midday UK time, when the Rosetta craft hits the comet’s surface and Earth will lose contact with it. Before then, scientists hope to get their last pieces of information – some of which might be the most important ever spotted, since Rosetta will be able to get so close to the surface.
Scientists working on the mission have spent recent days preparing to say goodbye to the craft, which they have been designing and steering through the solar system for years.
Tributes have included a special box of tissues – ready for anyone weeping at the end of the mission – shaped like Rosetta itself.
A note signed by the team and left on the main control room door at the European Space Operations Centre said: "Farewell Rosetta! We will miss you."
Professor Monica Grady, a British scientist involved in the design of the lander, said she had "very mixed feelings" as the end approached.
"It's been a fantastic mission, but it's time now to move on to the next one," she told BBC News.
"It's been a tremendous achievement by the European Space Agency, it's been absolutely amazing."
