Europe's Rosetta spacecraft will try to land a robot lab on a comet heading toward deep space on November 12 in a first for humankind.
Just ten days after announced the preferred landing spot on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the European Space Agency (ESA) has now set a date for the operation more than 280 miles away from Earth, according to AFP.
Rosetta will try setting down its lander, called Philae, while orbiting the comet heading towards the Sun at about 10.4 miles per second.
Comet "67P" is made of two lobes joined by a narrow neck. Its silhouette resembles that of a rubber duck, according to Reuters.
The ESA identified "Site J" on the smaller lobe, or "head," around where the duck's forehead would be, as a preferred landing site on the comet.
A backup spot, or "Site C" is located on the larger lobe.
Rosetta will release Philae 0835 GMT (3:35 am EST ) on Nov. 12 at a distance of 22.5 km from the comet's center and land about seven hours later, if all goes according to plan.
A delay of 28 minutes and 20 seconds in the one-way signal from Rosetta means that confirmation of landing will reach Earth at 1600 GMT (11:00 am EST ).
If the backupsite needs to be used, separation will take place at 1304 GMT (8:04 am EST ), at a distance of around 12.5 km, to land four hours later, according to an ESA press statement.
Rosetta is equipped with 11 cameras and sensors that have already taken astonishing images of the comet. Experts are hoping for even bigger discoveries from the 10 instruments aboard Philae, according to AFP.
Comet 67P is on a 6.5-year Sun orbit.
Rosetta was able to catch up with it after a decade-long journey that required four flybys of Earth and Mars, using the planet's gravity as a slingshot to generate enough speed.
The comet and Rosetta will be 185 million km from the Sun on Aug. 13, 2015.
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