ESA confirms primary landing site for Rosetta | ESA News

by Robohub Editors

15 October 2014

share this:

ESA has given the green light for its Rosetta mission to deliver its lander, Philae, to the primary site on 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 12 November, in the first-ever attempt at a soft touchdown on a comet.

Philae’s landing site, currently known as Site J and located on the smaller of the comet’s two ‘lobes’, was confirmed on 14 October following a comprehensive readiness review.

Since the arrival, the mission has been conducting an unprecedented survey and scientific analysis of the comet, a remnant of the early phases of the Solar System’s 4.6 billion-year history.

At the same time, Rosetta has been moving closer to the comet: starting at 100 km on 6 August, it is now just 10 km from the centre of the 4 km-wide body. This allowed a more detailed look at the primary and backup landing sites in order to complete a hazard assessment, including a detailed boulder census.

The decision that the mission is ‘Go’ for Site J also confirms the timeline of events leading up to the landing.

World Robotics 2023 report: Asia ahead of Europe and the Americas

The new World Robotics report recorded 553,052 industrial robot installations in factories around the world – a growth rate of 5% in 2022, year-on-year. By region, 73% of all newly deployed robots were installed in Asia, 15% in Europe and 10% in the Americas.

02 October 2023, by International Federation of Robotics (IFR)

#IROS2023: A glimpse into the next generation of robotics

The 2023 EEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS 2023) kicks off today at the Huntington Place in Detroit, Michigan.

01 October 2023, by Daniel Carrillo-Zapata

Robot Talk Episode 55 – Sara Adela Abad Guaman

In the first episode of the new season, Claire chatted to Dr. Sara Adela Abad Guaman from University College London about adaptable robots inspired by nature.

30 September 2023, by Robot Talk

A short guide to Multidisciplinary Research

How and Why would I consider colliding two opposite disciplines in my research.

27 September 2023, by Karen Donaldson

Robo-Insight #5

In this fifth edition, we are excited to feature robot progress in human-robot interaction, agile movement, enhanced training methods, soft robotics, brain surgery, medical navigation, and ecological research.

25 September 2023, by Shaunak Kapur

Soft robotic tool provides new ‘eyes’ in endovascular surgery

The magnetic device can help visualise and navigate complex and narrow spaces.

23 September 2023, by Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems