The Rosetta Mission is in a really exciting stage as it's due to land on the comet. With theories already being rewritten due to the strange rocky pictures of the comet. The exploration will offer more data which should challenge the conventional theories out there already. What are your hopes for the mission?

 

200 CET 1900 UTC - first set of go codes received. Next possible branch is midnight and then 0130 (CET)

Separation was confirmed at ESA’s Space Operation Centre, ESOC, in Darmstadt, Germany at 09:03 GMT / 10:03 CET. It takes the radio signals from the transmitter on Rosetta 28 minutes and 20 seconds to reach Earth, so separation actually occurred in space at 08:35 GMT / 09:35 CET.

 

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_and_Philae_separation_confirmed

The cold thruster that is meant to counteract a tendency to bounce appears to be inoperative. This could compromise the landing. Mission control were aware of this prior to separation.

Today's XKCD is a live (-ish) commentary on the landing: http://xkcd.com/1446/

And:

http://www.bbc.com/news/live/science-environment-29985988 and here:http://rosetta.esa.int/

I am currently getting better updates from xkcd than from esa. Just cannot load anything live or new at present on their site

 

the beebs feed is working

"philae has done its job - we are on the comet"

Fantastic! http://new.livestream.com/ESA/cometlanding

ESA has a Flickr page with an Album dedicated to the Rosetta mission. >> ESA: Rosetta @ Flickr