DESTINATION – COMET: SCIENTISTS NAME SITE FOR ROSETTA'S HISTORIC LANDING (STA BREAKING NEWS and ARCHIVES)

by STANews , Tuesday, September 16, 2014, 03:15

Philae’s primary landing site (Image from esa.int)

The European Space Agency (ESA) has unveiled the spot where its comet-chasing Rosetta mission will attempt a perilous landing on a volatile space body, the agency said in a statement on Monday. It is anticipated as the first comet landing in history.

The Rosetta spacecraft’s Philae lander is to land on the irregularly shaped 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko comet – currently travelling through space some 440 million kilometers from Earth – on November 11.

Five sites on the comet were previously identified by the ESA, however only two were chosen suitable for landing as they pose minimum risk to the lander compared to the other candidate sites.

MORE...

http://rt.com/news/187948-rosetta-comet-landing-site/