[LINK] On the upcoming landing of the Rosetta lander on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko

[rfmcdonald]

I've come across two interesting articles about the impending landing of Rosetta's lander on its target comet.

From National Geographic News, "Landing Site Chosen for Spacecraft's Daring Rendezvous With Comet".

Scientists announced Monday morning the spot where a small robot will touch down on the surface of a comet, in what they hope will be the first soft landing on a comet, as opposed to a crash landing.

When the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft arrived at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko this summer after a ten-year journey, scientists realized that landing on the lumpy chunk of ice and rock would be trickier than originally thought.

After a survey for sites that was a complex game of pin-the-lander-on-the-comet, the decision announced Monday is considered the best among the challenging options for setting down the probe, called Philae, on the comet’s craggy surface.

"There is flat area, but there is also some rough terrain," Stephan Ulamec, Philae lander manager at the German Aerospace Center, says about the site. "It's not a perfectly flat area as we probably would have hoped for a safe landing site."

Called site J (for now), the selected landing area presents an added hazard: It's near two active, gassy pits.

If all goes well, the lander will touch down somewhere inside a one-kilometer-wide target ellipse later this fall. The team has also selected a backup site in case site J loses its luster over the next months, as more high-resolution images come in.

Next, Universe Today's "Comet’s Head Selected as Landing Site for Rosetta’s Historic Philae Lander".

After weeks of detailed study and debate focused on balancing scientific interest with finding a ‘technically feasible’ and safe Philae touchdown site, the team chose a target dubbed Site J as the primary landing site from among a list of five initially selected sites, said Stephan Ulamec, Philae Lander Manager at the DLR German Aerospace Center, at the briefing.

“Site J is the primary landing site around the head of the comet,” Ulamec announced.

“Site C is the backup site on the body [near the bottom of the comet].”

“This was not an easy task. Site J is a mix of flat areas and rough terrain. It’s not a perfectly flat area. There is still risk with high slope areas.”

He also made clear that there is still some landing uncertainty with the targeting of the lander onto the comet.

Site J is an intriguing region on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko that offers unique scientific potential, with hints of activity nearby, and minimum risk to the lander compared to the other candidate sites, according to ESA.