Rosetta, a cornerstone mission of ESA: Objectives, instruments and the Polish contribution

The Rosetta mission of European Space Agency (ESA) will reach its main target, comet Tchurumov-Gerasimenko and start the scientific program in May 2014. In the paper, the main mission objectives as well as the instruments onboard the orbiter and the Philea lander are described. One of the lander instruments, MUPUS, was developed and manufactured with a significant contribution of the Polish team from SRC. Its technical features and research goals, concerning mostly investigations of mechanical and thermal properties of cometary nucleus are described.