Comet Interceptor — Visiting a pristine comet

Comet Interceptor | CoCa & MANiaC

Comet Interceptor will be the first mission to visit a comet coming directly from the outer reaches of the Sun's realm, carrying material untouched since the dawn of the Solar System. The joint ESA-JAXA mission combines the breakthroughs in comet discoveries from Giotto and Rosetta with a compact, agile set of spacecraft that can intercept and study long period comets entering the inner Solar System for the first time or possibly other interstellar objects. After launch, the mission will be "parked" in space where it awaits the arrival of a suitable pristine comet. Among the instrument suite are the Comet Camera (CoCa) and the Mass Analyzer for Neutrals in a Coma (MANiaC), which are being developed at the University of Bern. CoCa will obtain high resolution images of the comet's nucleus while MANiaC will sample the released gases.

UPCOMING MISSION HIGHLIGHTS

Late 2028 / Early 2029

Almost a decade after selection, Comet Interceptor is set to launch in late 2028 or early 2029 on an Ariane 6 rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. The exact launch time frame is yet to be announced.


Given Comet Interceptor's unique status—launching before a target has been defined—its mission timeline is much more vague than the average space exploration mission.

© ESA

LATEST MISSION HIGHLIGHTS

02 September 2026

Reaching an important milestone in the development phase of Comet Interceptor, the calibration campaign for the mission's imaging system Comet Camera (CoCa) has been completed by the calibration team at the University of Bern.


The team working on the Comet Camera (CoCa) at the University of Bern announced on LinkedIn that they have completed the calibration campaign of the imaging system following several weeks of intense work to ensure the instrument is ready for space and can be delivered to ESA later this year.

Comet Interceptor at the University of Bern

The contributions of the Space Research and Planetary Sciences Division (WP) of the Physics Institute at the University of Bern are both located on the mission's primary spacecraft. The Comet Camera (CoCa) is the spacecraft's imaging system, which is being developed by a consortium led by Prof. em. Dr. Nicolas Thomas (PI) and PD Dr. Antoine Pommerol (Deputy PI) at the University of Bern. The development of the Mass Analyzer for Neutrals in a Coma (MANiaC) instrument, a time-of-flight mass spectrometer combined with a neutral density gauge, is led by PD Dr. Martin Rubin (PI) and Prof. em. Dr. Peter Wurz (Deputy PI).

CoCa

CoCa is a camera system designed to provide high resolution imaging of the selected comet's nucleus in four filters at selected broadband optical wavelengths. Its aim is to provide the highest quality imaging of the surface and the dust in the near-nucleus environment over a range of phase angles in large quantities.

© University of Bern

MANiaC

MANiaC combines a time-of-flight mass spectrometer with a neutral density gauge, enabling measurements of the absolute neutral gas densities. Its aim is to measure the abundances of the major volatile species in the cometary coma (incl. H2O, CO2, CO, and possibly O2), and, if possible, minor species.

© University of Bern

More about the mission

The Comet Interceptor mission follows a simple principle: By exploring comets, we learn about the origins of our Solar System. So far, however, all comets that have been encountered by spacecraft are short-period comets: objects that have approached the Sun many times, whose surfaces have therefore changed, erasing their original appearance and make-up.

Pristine, long-period comets are difficult to target because they can only be discovered when approaching the Sun for the first time, which leaves very little time to plan and launch a mission. The European Space Agency selected Comet Interceptor to tackle this issue. Unlike the absolute majority of all space missions, Comet Interceptor does not have a set target, making this an incredibly unique mission.

Following its launch, the Comet Interceptor spacecraft will be "parked" in space, orbiting around the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L2—a stable gravitational point located 1.5 million kilometers directly 'behind' the Earth as viewed from the Sun—awaiting a suitable target. Once one is spotted and selected, Comet Interceptor will follow along and release its two probes, which will surround the comet to observe it from multiple angels. With the three spacecraft, the mission will be able to build up a 3D profile of its target, studying all aspects of the comet.

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