European Space Agency selects five possible landing sites for Rosetta mission

(This annotated image depicts four of the five potential landing sites for Rosetta’s Philae lander – Photo Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team et al)

Using detailed information collected by the Rosetta spacecraft during its first two weeks orbiting Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the European Space Agency have identified five candidate landing sites for the robotic Philae lander which will make history and descend from Rosetta and land on the comet’s nucleus in November.

Rosetta performs scientific observations and begins selecting possible landing sites

(Close up detail of comet 67P’s surface – Photo Credit: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM)

Just a week after arriving at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft is beginning to acquire the data it needs to select a landing site.