Paris – The EUTELSAT 7B satellite of Eutelsat Communications (NYSE Euronext Paris: ETL) is part of an exceptional infrastructure put in place by ESA to share the historic landing of the Philae Lander on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 12 November.

ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft arrived at Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 6 August after a ten-year journey through the Solar System. The landing site, currently known as Site J and located on the smaller of the comet’s two ‘lobes’, was selected just six weeks after Rosetta arrived at the comet.

The mission’s Lander, Philae, will separate from the Rosetta spacecraft on 12 November from a distance of 22.5 km from the centre of the comet. It will land about seven hours later.

Three control centres are involved in the landing: the Rosetta Mission Operations Centre at ESA’s Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany; the Lander Control Centre at DLR in Cologne, Germany; and the Lander Science Operations and Navigation Centre at CNES in Toulouse, France. Activities at each control centre will be closely linked and will be featured in a combined English-language ESA TV programme broadcast from ESOC.

Viewers across Europe can watch the climax to the Rosetta mission via the EUTELSAT 7B satellite located at 7° East.

Downlink frequency: 12676.83MHz
Polarisation: Y/vertical
Symbol rate: 7200 FEC: 5/6 Mod: DVBS2/8PSK
Signal: 1080i/50 MPEG4 4:2:0 H264 Audio 1: prog mono / Audio 2: ambience