Tomorrow November 12 the space probe Rosetta will deploy a lander to the surface of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. It’s the first endeavor of its kind and the grand finale of a ten year long chase through the solar system. At times so far out that there was no downlink to Earth for several years.
This is the biggest space adventure of the new millennium but I don’t care so much for what we might find on the surface of the comet. It’s the landscape itself that fascinates me a lot. This well-travelled heavenly body looks like a miniature planet.
You can track the landing progress via livestream.
At the end of the post there’s a video about the mission.
Pictures above via the flickr of The European Space Agency
Short information video about the Rosetta mission