“Scientists catch a comet and land on its surface” is a headline from the realm of science fiction. Comets are „dirty snowballs“ made up of rock, dust, ice and frozen gases, cruising through the Solar System at high speeds. Little is known about their origins, but scientists suspect they were formed 4.6 billion years ago from the massive spinning cloud of gas and dust that formed our Sun and Solar System. As today’s comets are witnesses of these earliest processes, scientists have been interested in them for a very long time, but until very recently, the idea of flying to a comet and soft-landing on its surface was utterly unthinkable. This changed in 2004 when the European Space Agency launched its spacecraft Rosetta for a 10-year flight to meet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, a comet of 4 km in diameter, orbiting the sun at speeds of 135,000 km per hour. On 12 November 2014, after travelling a distance of 6.4 billion km, Rosetta’s lander unit Philae successfully touched down on the comet and sent its first data packages to earth. Andrea Accomazzo is the Flight Director of the Rosetta mission, a trained military pilot and experienced spacecraft operations manager. For mastering the highly complex task of guiding Rosetta to its goal, he was listed among Nature’s top 10 scientists of the year 2014. At Falling Walls, he explains how vision, planning, science and engineering took us one step closer to understanding the beginnings of life on Earth.
Falling Walls
Falling Walls Berlin Science Week
Login Successful!
Thank you for the Login! Now you can add events to your personal schedule and participate in our live chat on selected events.
Almost there
- You've got mail!
Thank you for the Registration! Please check your mailbox. Simply click on the button in your email and you are successfully logged in.
With your Log-In you can save your favorite events to you calendar and give RSVP to certain events.
No email in your mailbox? Please check your spam folder or try again.
It seems you haven't registered yet!
Register now and become part of the event and the global Falling Walls Community. We will send you news about this and future events and keep you updated about the most exciting breakthroughs in science.
Our Privacy Policy applies.
You can withdraw your consent at any time free of charge and without giving reasons.
Enter your email for
free registration or login
Simply enter your email address to sign up for free for the event or log in to your account. You will directly receive an email allowing you to log in without a password.
Login failed
You want to login with an account which needs advanced authentification via password. Please use the regular login interface for this email address or register with a different email address for participating in the summit passwordless.
Further Activities to have a look at
Login Successful!
Thank you for the Login! Now you can add events to your personal schedule and participate in our live chat on selected events.
Almost there
- You've got mail!
Thank you for the Registration! Please check your mailbox. Simply click on the button in your email and you are successfully logged in.
With your Log-In you can save your favorite events to you calendar and give RSVP to certain events.
No email in your mailbox? Please check your spam folder or try again.
It seems you haven't registered yet!
Register now and become part of the event and the global Falling Walls Community. We will send you news about this and future events and keep you updated about the most exciting breakthroughs in science.
Our Privacy Policy applies.
You can withdraw your consent at any time free of charge and without giving reasons.
Enter your email for
free registration or login
Simply enter your email address to sign up for free for the event or log in to your account. You will directly receive an email allowing you to log in without a password.
Login failed
You want to login with an account which needs advanced authentification via password. Please use the regular login interface for this email address or register with a different email address for participating in the summit passwordless.