The twelve-year Rosetta mission will culminate in landing on a comet. During its journey, close approaches to two asteroids will provide insight
into questions of how the primitive solar system formed. Mission scientists announced this week that their fuel budget will allow flybys of the
asteroids called Steins and Lutetia which orbit between Mars and Jupiter.
Earlier this month, Europe's Rosetta cometary probe was successfully launched into an orbit around the Sun, which will allow it to reach the comet
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 after three flybys of the Earth and one of Mars. During this 10-year journey, the probe will pass close to two
asteroids.