ESA Science & Technology - Philae's descent - farewell from Rosetta

The descent of Philae towards Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 12 November 2014, as seen from the perspective of Rosetta.

The animation begins with Philae being ejected by Rosetta and deploying its own three legs, and follows the lander's descent until it reaches the target site on the comet about seven hours later. The animation is speeded up, but the comet rotation is true: in the time it takes for Philae to descend, the nucleus has rotated by more than 180° (the comet's rotation period is 12.4 hours).

Philae was provided by a consortium led by DLR, MPS, CNES and ASI.