[Calvin Locke]

This November, Rosetta will deploy a small probe that, if successful, will land on the comet — the first time we've ever made contact with a space rock (intentionally).

Who is "we"?

Define "space rock".

The US NEAR Shoemaker mission ended by intentionally landing on the tumbling asteroid it had been studying.

The Japanese Hayabusa mission was able to snag some dust off the surface of an asteroid.

I'm sure the Rosetta people learned from both NEAR Shoemaker and Hayabusa, since neither went exactly as planned.

[Leroy S. Mort]

This November, Rosetta will deploy a small probe that, if successful, will land on the comet — the first time we've ever made contact with a space rock (intentionally).

Deep Impact

Deep Impact was a NASA space probe launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 18:47 UTC on January 12, 2005.[3] It was designed to study the interior composition of the comet Tempel 1 (9P/Tempel), by releasing an impactor into the comet. At 05:52 UTC on July 4, 2005, the impactor successfully collided with the comet's nucleus. The impact excavated debris from the interior of the nucleus, forming an impact crater.

[ctdonath2]

‘Who is “we”?’

Humans.

‘Define “space rock”.’

A rock. In space. Like this one.