Cosmic first: European spacecraft lands on comet

What is the next physical target after that mission? The Alpha Centauri star system, the closest starts to earth, at just over 4 light years, is 1000 times the distance to Pluto, and if a spacecraft traveled at the same speed as New Horizons it would take 9,000 or so years

I think you've underestimated the difficulty of it. Its more like 7000 times distant and would take more like 80,000 years.

Cool! I wish I could live long enough to see humans invent faster-than-light warp speed capability and land on an M-Class planet in another solar system where there is breathable air...

Brilliant! Next year New Horizons will rendevous with Pluto. What is the next physical target after that mission? The Alpha Centauri star system, the closest starts to earth, at just over 4 light years, is 1000 times the distance to Pluto, and if a spacecraft traveled at the same speed as New Horizons it would take 9,000 or so years - and communications (if communication were even possible) would take over 4 years each way.

Even more intriguing, there are over a dozen known plausibly "Earth-like" planets between 10 and 100 light years away. Technically speaking communications should be possible, with a string of stations to relay signals, say 100 per light year. The biggest problem might be getting humans to focus on the project without interruption for 10,000 to 100,000 years.

@KariHaruka

Thanks Finland!

After watching the movie Interstella, this will catch many people's attention.

Awesome -- pat on the back for HUMANITY!!!!!!!!!!

I'm proud that instruments from the Finnish Meteorological Institute made the first contact with the comet.

We've been joking saying that Finland is the first country to land on a comet. Though the joking aside. This marvelous achievement couldn't of been made possible without all the fantastic work of everyone at the European Space Agency who contributed to this mission.

Brrr... Must be cold out there.

Another marvelous achievement. I wonder what they'll learn from this. I'm also eagerly awaiting the rendezvous with Pluto next year - something I'd never thought would happen in my lifetime.

Remember, on the comet we are the aliens. ;)

Nothing seems impossible any more. Comets can tell us about the history of the early solar system and the early history perhaps of our own Earth.

So this makes the movie Armageddon, plausible.

An incredible achievement.