Ireland is to launch its first space mission which will be developed by Maynooth-based company, Space Technology Ireland (STIL).

A European spacecraft that made history by touching down on a comet may have failed to anchor itself firmly to the object’s icy surface, scientists have revealed.

Irish schoolchildren made their own mini comets yesterday as the world waited for a comet-chasing probe to wake up and phone home from some 800m kilometres away.

IRISH scientists working on an ambitious European Space Agency-led comet-chasing mission face an anxious wait when the Rosetta probe is due to wake from its deep-space hibernation some 673 million kilometres away, near Jupiter. Follow the live updates from Eoin English here.

A spacecraft is on course to make history by landing the first probe on a comet, but first it must end its two-year hibernation. Rosetta, operated by the European Space Agency, has been dormant since Jul 2011 and its alarm clock is set for 10am GMT on Jan 20.