Confirmation received of the first ever comet landing
Successful touchdown of the landing robot Philae marks climax of 10 year, 6.4 billion km journey
Esa confirms the harpoons designed to attach Philae to the comet did not fire, but its smaller screws appear to have dug into the surface
Philae was released at 08:35 GMT and took seven hours to reach comet 67P
Pictures have been received of the descent in progress - more are now eagerly awaited from the comet surface
Live video from the European Space Agency's operations centre in Darmstadt, Germany
This sounds fun...
@AstroKatie tweets:, external Walking on Comet #67P would be like: Step (carefully). Hurl through space. Flail. Slowly arc back toward comet. Land. Bounce. Skid. [Repeat]
G Wilson: Hi, just so amazing, I remember watching the moon landing in '69. This feat just leaves me speechless - even to have got as far as they have is staggering. "May the wind be behind you, and the road rise up before you."
tweets:, external Philae Timeline: Lander should now have completed post-separation activities. We won't know for hours, though.
Matt Popple: I have been explaining the importance of this to my 8 year old on the school run! We both can't wait for touchdown (fingers crossed) at 1600!
John Huntington commented, external: So audacious, what an incredible day for mankind. Look what we can attempt by working together. Another step to the galaxy.
@KatyPrestedge tweets:, external An exciting day to be working at @OpenUniversity as #rosetta attempts the first landing on a comet, will be watching live!
tweets, external: Telemetry confirms that CONSERT is on! It will help the lander team know altitude and speed of @Philae2014 during descent. #CometLanding
Rebecca Morelle
Science Correspondent, BBC News
tweets, external: Boulders, cliffs and canyons await #Philae lander on the surface of the duck-shaped comet 67P #Rosetta
Image source, Esatweets, external: Expected loss of signal w/ @ESA_Rosetta, which is now slewing for escape manoeuvre. We expect to regain contact at 11:58CET #CometLanding
tweets:, external Good Luck today Guys, #Rosetta Craft Landing on Comet, a journey of over 10 years. For Greater understanding of our #Universe!
tweets:, external Ow...owww...owwww... Leg cramp! My leg fell asleep after 10 yrs of being in that crazy Yoga pretzel position! #mmMMMmmYogurtCoveredPretzels
"It's all down to Isaac Newton and the laws of physics now. Philae is on its way down to the surface," says Esa's senior scientific advisor Prof Mark McCaughrean.
"If Isaac's friendly to us we'll have a great landing later today."
Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
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.
Tweets:, external No turning back for #cometlanding now
Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News
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.
Paul Merchant: Been saying for weeks that I wasn't interested in the landing, but I have been up since 6.30am in front of the pc waiting on every word. Good luck to all the ladies and gentlemen involved in the project.
@ValMellon tweets:, external Excited about comet landing! Come on mankind, you can do it! #Rosetta
tweets, external: SEPARATION CONFIRMED! Safe journey @Philae2014!
Image source, ESAConfirmation! Philae has separated from the Rosetta "mothership", and the signal has been received at mission HQ in Darmstadt.
So, the lander has begun its 7-hour drop.
Let's hope it finds a nice soft landing spot like this one, which is actually on the other end of the comet:
Image source, ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAMThis is another of Esa's "top 10 images from 10km, external" released yesterday.
It's still silent in the Esa control room...