Comet Interceptor - ESA mission to ambush a comet

This is neat: after years of missions to identified comets, the ESA is setting up a mission to deposit a probe at the second Earth-Sun lagrange point, and wait for an appropriate comet to be identified. It'll then be dispatched for a flyby mission of what is (hopefully) a pristine comet on its first pass of the sun.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-48696024
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/ESA_s_new_mission_to_intercept_a...

There's a great romance to unmanned space exploration. When I was a kid I watched, transfixed, as news came in of the Giotto probe's encounter with Grigg-Skjellerup. By that point the probe had already visited Halley and was absolutely battle-scarred from collisions.

Love that idea!