The mission is controlled from the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC), in Darmstadt, Germany. The Rosetta space probe orbiter and and the Philae robotic lander have a number of instruments to take samples and conduct experiments on the comet’s nucleus. The spacecraft with stay with the comet as it travels around the sun. Rosetta spacecraft has already performed two successful asteroid flyby missions on its way to the come, in September 2008 and in in July 2010. Rosetta was steered through several “gravity assists” around Earth and Mars to speed up during its mission and now it has been commanded to do several tight maneuvers to slow its speed to match the pace of its icy destination.The orbital correction began in May,7. The most recent images released by ESA show the comet from just 3,400 miles (5,500 kilometers), with a resolution of 330 feet (100 meters) per pixel.
