European scientists send Rosetta on collision course to surface of comet 67P

European scientists have sent the Rosetta spacecraft on its final, one-way journey to the surface of a comet, after a historic 12-year mission to discover the secrets of the dusty, icy bodies. The Rosetta spacecraft has been chasing comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko across more than 6 billion kilometres of space, collecting a treasure trove of information on comets that will keep scientists busy for the next decade. On Thursday evening, the European Space Agency confirmed the spacecraft had started its “collision manoeuvre”, putting it on course to crash into the comet within 20 minutes of 1040 GMT on Friday. Data collected by Rosetta and lander Philae, which reached the surface in November 2014, is already helping scientists better understand how the Earth and other planets formed.