In order to gain the huge amount of orbital energy required to reach its final destination, the Rosetta spacecraft will have to carry out three Earch and one Mars gravity assists.

During the 10 year journey to comet 67 P/Churyamov Gerasimenko, imaging instruments on the Orbiter will study an asteroid during a close proximity flyby.

On arrival at the comet in 2014, the Orbiter instruments will image the comet nucleus and a suitable landing site will be chosen for the Lander. Once the Lander has safely anchored itself to the surface, the payload instruments will analyse the nucleus and relay data and images back to Earth via the Orbiter.

The main events that define the journey planned for the Rosetta spacecraft are outlined in the table shown below: