30th September 2016  By Jonathan Amos

 

                                   http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/564F/production/_91459022_mediaitem91459021.jpg

                                   Rosetta took this picture when it was just 1.2km from the surface

 

Europe's Rosetta probe has ended its mission to Comet 67P by crash-landing on to the icy object's surface.

 

Mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, was able to confirm the impact had occurred when radio contact to the ageing spacecraft was lost abruptly.

 

The assumption is that the probe would have been damaged beyond use.

 

In the hours before the planned collision, Rosetta sent back a host of high-resolution pictures and other measurements of the icy dirt-ball.

 

Scientists expect all the data gathered at 67P in the past two years to keep them busy for decades to come.

 

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