Rosetta, The European Space Agency's comet-chasing mission launched back in 2004 then sent into three years of hibernation while it traveled on solar power past the orbit of Jupiter, has reportedly awakened and affixed its robotic eyes on its prize -- comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which it will meet up with in August.

The probe captured images of the comet March 20 and 21 with the duo-camera Optical, Spectroscopic and Infrared Remote Imaging System, or, OSIRIS, one of 11 on-board science instruments that altogether are expected to generate at least several volumes at data on the comet's surface geology, gravity, mass, shape, internal structure, plasma environment and gaseous, dust-laden atmosphere.

One of the OSIRIS cameras handles wide-angle shots, while the other narrow-angle camera covers a smaller field, but at much higher resolution.

Rosetta first imaged the comet from a distance of 163 million kilometers -- just over 101 million miles -- three years ago, before mission controllers shut down all electronics except for the operations computer and warming units.

Cruising at an estimated 673 million kilometers, or 418 million miles, from the sun, Rosetta still has about 5 million kilometers, or 3.1 million miles, until it meets up with the comet.

"Finally seeing our target after a 10 year journey through space is an incredible feeling," OSIRIS Principal Investigator Holger Sierks, from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany, said in a news release. "These first images taken from such a huge distance show us that OSIRIS is ready for the upcoming adventure."

Rosetta project scientist Matt Taylor asserted the mission's re-start process has gotten off to "a great start ... we are looking forward to having all 11 instruments plus lander Philae back online and ready for arriving at the comet in just a few month's time."

OSIRIS and the spacecraft's dedicated navigation cameras are scheduled to capture images of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko will regularly over the next many weeks, which will help mission programmers refine Rosetta's trajectory, so that it shifts steadily in line with the comet ahead of the rendezvous.

Assuming everything with the Rosetta mission goes pretty much as planned, the probe will be the first mission space mission ever to rendezvous with a comet, the first to attempt a landing on a comet's surface (with the lander its 100kg, or 220-pound, Philae lander), and the first to trail a comet as it swings around the sun.