The European Space Agency (ESA) is inviting the public to suggest a name for the spot where the Rosetta mission’s lander Philae will touch down on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 12 November 2014. The winner will have an opportunity to travel to ESA’s Space Operations Center in Darmstadt, Germany, to follow the landing live from the mission’s control center.
Site J, the Rosetta probe’s landing site, is located on the head of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko; the inset shows a close-up of the site. Image credit: ESA / Rosetta / MPS for OSIRIS team MPS / UPD / LAM / IAA / SSO / INTA / UPM / DASP / IDA.
“As the location of the first soft landing of a human-made object on a comet, the site, currently identified as Site J, deserves a meaningful and memorable name that captures the significance of the occasion,” said an ESA press statement.
The rules are simple: any name can be proposed, but it must not be the name of a person.
The name must be accompanied by a short description (up to 200 words) explaining why this would make the ideal name for such an historic location.
A jury comprising members of the Philae Steering Committee will select the best name from the entries, and the winning proposer will be invited to follow the landing in person from ESA’s mission control center in Darmstadt, Germany on 12 November 2014.
Entries will be accepted until 7:59 p.m. EDT (4:59 p.m. PDT, 11:59 p.m. GMT) on 22 October 2014.
The top prize can only be awarded to participants who are a citizen of or a permanent resident of an EU Member State, an ESA Member State (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom; Canada takes part in some projects under a Cooperation agreement), an ESA Cooperating State (Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Slovak Republic, and Slovenia), or the United States of America.
The winner will be announced on 3 November 2014 on the main Rosetta web page, via ESA’s social media channels, as well as on the German, French and Italian space agency web pages and social media channels.
To enter the competition, visit: http://sci.esa.int/rosetta-competition/
Full rules, terms and conditions can be found at http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Name_Rosetta_mission_s_landing_site_competition_rules
