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Comet Interceptor
Visiting a pristine comet
Launch

2029

status

In development

target

As-yet-undiscovered comet

type

Solar System explorer

Comet Interceptor will be the first mission to visit a comet coming directly from the outer reaches of the Sun's realm. The mission will travel to an as-yet-undiscovered comet and complete a flyby. Its three spacecraft will perform simultaneous observations from multiple points around the comet, creating a 3D profile of a 'dynamically new' object that contains unprocessed material surviving from the very dawn of the Solar System.
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a unique mission
What makes **Comet Interceptor** unique?

Comet Interceptor’s target – an as-yet undiscovered and first-time cometary visitor to our cosmic neighbourhood – makes the mission unique and different from ESA’s pioneering spacecraft Rosetta and Giotto. A potential target is a comet from the vast Oort cloud that is at the outer reaches of the Sun’s realm. As such, the comet will contain material that has not undergone much processing since the dawn of the Sun and planets, offering new insights into the formation of the Solar System. Although much rarer, another class of potential targets is interstellar interlopers from another star system, like the famed 'Oumuamua that flew past our Sun on a highly hyperbolic orbit in 2017. Studying an interstellar object would offer the chance to explore how comet-like bodies form and evolve in other star systems.

Animation of the Comet Interceptor mission in space. Credit: ESA. 

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science questions
What questions are we addressing?

We want to explore the dawn of the Universe by addressing key questions pristine comets:

Compare pristine and known comets:
What does a pristine comet or interstellar object that has entered the inner Solar System many times look like up close, and how are they different from the ones we know?

Reconstruct early solar system conditions:
What was the early Solar System like?

Investigate comets' role in life's origins:
What is the role of comets in the appearance of life on Earth?

method & instruments
How are we conducting the science?

Comet Interceptor will use multi-point flyby observations to study a pristine or dynamically new comet. It will deploy three spacecraft which will wait at the Lagrange Point 2 (L2) for a suitable target, then travel together before the modules separate some days prior to intercepting the comet. A total of 15 scientific instruments will take measurements of the target comet from different locations at the same time. This method will allow Comet Interceptor to construct a 3D map of the comet and the gas and dust around it, deepening our understanding of the beginnings of the Solar System.

The spacecraft is equipped with 15 science instruments:
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DFP-A: Dust Impact Sensor and Counter (DISC)
Will measure the momentum and mass of dust particles.
co-Lead Scientist: Vincenzo Della Corte, INAF-IAPS, Rome, Italy. DFP Instrument Suite Lead Scientist: Hanna Rotkaehl, Space Research Centre (CBK), Warsaw, Poland
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Modular Infrared Molecules and Ices Sensor (MIRMIS)
Will measure the temperature of the nucleus and study the composition of gas in the coma and ice on the surface with infrared light.
Lead Scientist: Neil Bowles, University of Oxford, United Kingdom
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Mass Analyser for Neutrals in a Coma (MANIaC)
Will capture atoms, molecules and small ice particles flying out of the comet to measure their mass and thereby the chemical make-up of the comet, as well as the overall gas density in the coma.
Lead Scientist: Martin Rubin, University of Bern, Switzerland
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High resolution Comet Camera (CoCa)
Will provide high resolution images of the nucleus and near-nucleus dust and contribute to a 3D map of the dust surrounding the comet.

Credit: ESA. Instruments list: Spacecraft A – Dust, Fiels, and Plasma (DFP-A), consisting of: Solar Wind Cometary Ions and Energetic Neutral Atoms Spectrometer (SCIENA), Fluxgate Magnetometer (FGM-A), Cometary Plasma Light Instrument (COMPLIMENT), Dust Impact Sensor and Counter (DISC), Low-Energy Electron Spectrometer (LEES) and Modular Infrared Molecules and Ices Sensor (MIRMIS), High resolution Comet camera (CoCa), Mass Analyser for Neutrals in a Coma (MANIaC). Probe B1 – Magnetometer (MAG), Hydrogen Imager (HI), Camera Suite, consisting of Narrow-Angle Camera (NAC), Wide-Angle Camera (WAC). Probe B2 – Dust, Fiels, and Plasma (DFP-B2), consisting of: Dust Impact Sensor and Counter (DISC), Fluxgate Magnetometer (FGM), Entire Visible Sky Camera (EnVisS), Optical Periscopic Imager for Comets (OPIC)

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DFP-A: Cometary Plasma Light Instrument (COMPLIMENT)
Will measure the local electric field, the densities of electrons and ions in the plasma, UV light coming from the charged particles, the temperature of the electrons, and impacts of dust particles the size of a nanometre.
co-Lead Scientist: Pierre Henri, CNRS (LPC2E, Orléans & Lagrange, Nice), France. DFP Instrument Suite Lead Scientist: Hanna Rotkaehl, Space Research Centre (CBK), Warsaw, Poland
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DFP-A: Fluxgate Magnetometer (FGM)
Will perform 3D magnetic field measurements for boundary detection and characterisation, and for resolving structure inside the boundary.
co-Lead Scientist: Uli Auster, TU Braunschweig, Germany. DFP Instrument Suite Lead Scientist: Hanna Rotkaehl, Space Research Centre (CBK), Warsaw, Poland
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DFP-A: Low-Energy Electron Spectrometer (LEES)
Will determine the electron density, temperature, and the velocity distribution functions of the in situ plasma environment of the solar wind and the target object.
co-Lead Scientist: Nicolas Andre, IRAP, France. DFP Instrument Suite Lead Scientist: Hanna Rotkaehl, Space Research Centre (CBK), Warsaw, Poland
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DFP-A: Solar Wind Cometary Ions and Energetic Neutral Atoms Spectrometer (SCIENA)
Will measure ions and energetic neutral atoms to assess the energy input from the solar wind and from cometary ions picked up by the solar wind upstream of the observation point.
Hco-Lead Scientist: Hans Nilsson, Swedish Institute of Space Physics (IRF), Sweden. DFP Instrument Suite Lead Scientist: Hanna Rotkaehl, Space Research Centre (CBK), Warsaw, Poland

Credit: ESA. Instruments list: Spacecraft A – Dust, Fiels, and Plasma (DFP-A), consisting of: Solar Wind Cometary Ions and Energetic Neutral Atoms Spectrometer (SCIENA), Fluxgate Magnetometer (FGM-A), Cometary Plasma Light Instrument (COMPLIMENT), Dust Impact Sensor and Counter (DISC), Low-Energy Electron Spectrometer (LEES) and Modular Infrared Molecules and Ices Sensor (MIRMIS), High resolution Comet camera (CoCa), Mass Analyser for Neutrals in a Coma (MANIaC). Probe B1 – Magnetometer (MAG), Hydrogen Imager (HI), Camera Suite, consisting of Narrow-Angle Camera (NAC), Wide-Angle Camera (WAC). Probe B2 – Dust, Fiels, and Plasma (DFP-B2), consisting of: Dust Impact Sensor and Counter (DISC), Fluxgate Magnetometer (FGM), Entire Visible Sky Camera (EnVisS), Optical Periscopic Imager for Comets (OPIC)

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Hydrogen Imager (HI)
Will look for UV light coming from hydrogen atoms to track the water production rate starting months before the comet flies past, until the very end of the mission.
Lead Scientist: Kazuo Yoshioka, University of Tokyo, Japan
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Magnetometer (MAG)
Will measure the strength and direction of the magnetic field of the target object. 
Lead Scientist: Satoshi Kasahara, University of Tokyo, Japan
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Narrow-Angle Camera (NAC) and Wide-Angle Camera (WAC)
Will image the target body to reveal its global shape, its surface morphology, and the large-scale structure of the dust coma.
Lead Scientist: Naoya Sakatani, Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan

Credit: ESA. Instruments list: Spacecraft A – Dust, Fiels, and Plasma (DFP-A), consisting of: Solar Wind Cometary Ions and Energetic Neutral Atoms Spectrometer (SCIENA), Fluxgate Magnetometer (FGM-A), Cometary Plasma Light Instrument (COMPLIMENT), Dust Impact Sensor and Counter (DISC), Low-Energy Electron Spectrometer (LEES) and Modular Infrared Molecules and Ices Sensor (MIRMIS), High resolution Comet camera (CoCa), Mass Analyser for Neutrals in a Coma (MANIaC). Probe B1 – Magnetometer (MAG), Hydrogen Imager (HI), Camera Suite, consisting of Narrow-Angle Camera (NAC), Wide-Angle Camera (WAC). Probe B2 – Dust, Fiels, and Plasma (DFP-B2), consisting of: Dust Impact Sensor and Counter (DISC), Fluxgate Magnetometer (FGM), Entire Visible Sky Camera (EnVisS), Optical Periscopic Imager for Comets (OPIC)

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Dust Impact Sensor and Counter (DISC)
Will measure the momentum and mass of dust particles.
co-Lead Scientist: Vincenzo Della Corte, INAF-IAPS, Rome, Italy
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Fluxgate Magnetometer (FGM)
Will measure the strength and direction of the magnetic field of the target object.
co-Lead Scientist: Marina Galand, Imperial College London, United Kingdom
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Optical Periscopic Imager for Comets (OPIC)
Will contribute to a 3D map of the dust surrounding the comet.
Lead Scientist: Mihkel Pajusalu, Tartu Observatory, University of Tartu, Estonia
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Entire Visible Sky Camera (EnVisS)
Will contribute to a 3D map of the dust surrounding the comet and will look for polarised light to determine the size, shape and orientation of the dust particles.
Lead Scientist: Vania Da Deppo, CNR-Institute for Photonics and Nanotechnologies, Padova, Italy

Credit: ESA. Instruments list: Spacecraft A – Dust, Fiels, and Plasma (DFP-A), consisting of: Solar Wind Cometary Ions and Energetic Neutral Atoms Spectrometer (SCIENA), Fluxgate Magnetometer (FGM-A), Cometary Plasma Light Instrument (COMPLIMENT), Dust Impact Sensor and Counter (DISC), Low-Energy Electron Spectrometer (LEES) and Modular Infrared Molecules and Ices Sensor (MIRMIS), High resolution Comet camera (CoCa), Mass Analyser for Neutrals in a Coma (MANIaC). Probe B1 – Magnetometer (MAG), Hydrogen Imager (HI), Camera Suite, consisting of Narrow-Angle Camera (NAC), Wide-Angle Camera (WAC). Probe B2 – Dust, Fiels, and Plasma (DFP-B2), consisting of: Dust Impact Sensor and Counter (DISC), Fluxgate Magnetometer (FGM), Entire Visible Sky Camera (EnVisS), Optical Periscopic Imager for Comets (OPIC)

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210 images taken by the Rosetta mission of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko between July 2014 and September 2016. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NavCam – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0; ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA; ESA/Rosetta/Philae/CIVA; ESA/Rosetta/Philae/ROLIS/DLR

scientific context

Comet Interceptor follows in the footsteps of earlier ESA comet missions, Giotto and Rosetta, which revolutionised cometary science. Giotto's images revealed the nature of a cometary nucleus, while Rosetta was the first mission to monitor the changing activity of a comet as it orbited around the Sun. Rosetta and its lander Philae built up a detailed inventory of the composition and nature of a comet, including finding clues about the contribution comets may have made to the ingredients of life on early Earth. Building on these legacies, Comet Interceptor will explore material from a first-time cometary visitor and improve our understanding of the Solar System’s origins.

Artist’s impression of the Comet Interceptor mission with its three spacecraft deployed to study an as-yet-undiscovered comet. Credit: ESA

Building the Mission

Comet Interceptor is an ESA-led mission in collaboration with JAXA. ESA is responsible for the main spacecraft and one of the probes, while JAXA provides the second probe. European and Japanese scientific institutions collaborate on instrument development and mission planning.

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Discover our science missions

Explore a subset of the ESA Science Programme missions here. Additional mission pages are in progress.
The currently available mission pages are ESA's flagship missions launched from 2013 and to be launched (L-class), and the ones in development (M- and F-class).

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