ESA's Rosetta has reached Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, the probe Philae has separated successfully, and in a few hours will attempt a historical first by landing on the comet. The 'Go' decision was given at 7.09am GMT this morning.
Some pictures of the comet released by ESA.
There's a livestream of ESA's mission control in Darmstadt, Germany
http://new.livestream.com/esa/cometlanding
... and the BBC is running a live broadcast:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/scien...nment-29985988
09:10
Part of the difficulty is the very low gravity on the 4km-wide ice mountain. Philae needs to be wary of simply bouncing back into space. As a consequence, on contact it will deploy foot screws and harpoons to try to fasten its position.
It will then take a picture of its surroundings - a strange landscape containing deep pits and tall ice spires. This is, though, an event with a highly uncertain outcome. The terrain that has been chosen for the landing on the rubber duck-shaped object is far from flat. Philae could bash into cliffs, topple down a steep slope, or even disappear into a fissure.
09:17
For the next couple of hours Rosetta and Philae will be out of radio contact. The umbilical that has joined them for 10 years was dropped at separation. Rosetta must now slew to get into a better position to follow the descent.
Philae, on the other side, should be taking some goodbye pictures of "mummy". The little robot also needs to think soon of putting out its legs ready for the landing. 1053 GMT is the time when Rosetta and Philae should make radio contact with each other. Assuming that happens, we will get to see those goodbye pictures here on Earth.