A ten-year journey is reaching its end. On 12 November, the Philae lander transported by the European spacecraft Rosetta will touch down on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, over 500 million kilometres from the Earth. This extremely delicate operation will mobilise several of the European Space Agency's (ESA) operational centres in Germany and France and the green light will be given only after final checks on the evening of 11 November and again on 12 November.
The total cost of…