After more than two years, the historic Rosetta probe mission has come to an end after the probe made a controlled impact onto Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

“,” ESA Director General Johann-Dietrich Wörner said in a release. “Today we celebrate the success of a game-changing mission, one that has surpassed all our dreams and expectations, and one that continues ESA’s legacy of 'firsts' at comets.”

The mission’s end was confirmed early Friday morning when Rosetta’s signal was lost upon impact, according to the release. The probe’s final maneuver was on a collision course with the comet. It had targeted a region on the small lobe of Comet 67P, near a region of active pits in the Ma'at region.

Rosetta’s descent allowed it to study the comet’s gas, dust and plasma environment close to its surface, as well as capture very high-resolution images. The pits are particularly interesting because they play a major role in the comet’s activity and provide a unique window into its composition.

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The results from Rosetta’s mission depict comets as “ancient leftovers of early Solar System formation,” rather than fragments of collisions between larger celestial bodies later on, according to the release. This gives an unparalleled insight into what the building blocks of planets may have looked like 4.6 billion years ago.

Rosetta made history as the first to orbit a comet and the first to deploy a lander, Philae, in November 2014. It continued to monitor the comet’s evolution during their closest approach to the Sun and beyond.

The end of this mission comes shortly after researchers finally located the resting spot of the Philae lander. After it went missing for two years, . A faulty thruster failed to fire harpoons that would have locked it to the comet’s surface, causing it to bounce from its initial touchdown point and land almost a mile away.

Rosetta spotted the lander trapped in a dark crack without enough sunlight to charge its secondary batteries.

An artist's impression of Rosetta shortly before hitting Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on Sept. 30, 2016.

(ESA/ATG medialab)

At a Glance

The historic Rosetta probe mission has come to an end after more than two years.Rosetta’s descent allowed it to study the comet’s gas, dust and plasma environment close to its surface.While researchers have lost contact with the probe, they have plenty of data to review from the craft.

Since launching in 2004, Rosetta has made six orbits around the sun. Its journey tallied up almost 5 billion miles, which included three Earth flybys, a Mars flyby and two asteroid encounters, according to the release. For 31 months, the spacecraft was in deep-space hibernation during the most distant leg of its mission. It woke up in January 2014 and finally arrived at the comet in August 2014.

“We’ve operated in the harsh environment of the comet for 786 days, made a number of dramatic flybys close to its surface, survived several unexpected outbursts from the comet, and recovered from two spacecraft ‘safe modes,’” said operations manager Sylvain Lodiot.

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Researchers decided to end Rosetta’s mission on the comet’s surface as a result of the probe and the comet heading out beyond Jupiter’s orbit, further from the sun than Rosetta has ever gone before, the release states. At that distance, there would be little power to operate the craft.

“With the decision to take Rosetta down to the comet’s surface, we boosted the scientific return of the mission through this last, once-in-a-lifetime operation,” said mission manager Patrick Martin.

Many unexpected discoveries were made during the mission. Rosetta revealed the comet’s curious shape in July and August 2014, which led scientists to believe that the meteorite’s two lobes formed independently and were joined together in a low-speed collision in the early days of the solar system.

Researchers also learned how important the comet’s shape is in terms of influencing its seasons, moving dust across its surface and in explaining variations measured in the density and composition of the comet’s “atmosphere,” or coma.

According to the release, the gasses coming from the comet’s nucleus are among some of the most unexpected and important discoveries. Researchers discovered molecular oxygen and nitrogen, as well as water with a different “flavor” than that of Earth’s oceans. These results suggest the comet was formed in a very cold region of the protoplanetary nebula as the solar system was forming more than 4.5 billion years ago.

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Rosetta also detected the amino acid glycine, which is commonly found in proteins, and phosphorous, a key component of cell membranes and DNA. It also found numerous organic compounds.

Once it touched down, Rosetta ceased sending any data, which means , Space.com reports. Because 67P is porous with low gravity, the probe’s landing likely looked more like a slow-motion collisioninstead ofan epic crash.

“Just as the Rosetta Stone after which this mission was named was pivotal in understanding ancient language and history, the vast treasure trove of Rosetta spacecraft data is changing our view on how comets and the Solar System formed,” said project scientist Matt Taylor. “Inevitably, we now have new mysteries to solve.

“The comet hasn’t given up all of its secrets yet, and there are sure to be many surprises hidden in this incredible archive. So don’t go anywhere yet – we’re only just beginning.”

“Farewell, Rosetta, you’ve done the job,” Rosetta mission manager Patrick Martin said in a statement obtained by Space.com. “That was pure science at its best.”

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