Rosetta released Philae at 9:35 (0835 GMT) at a point 22.5 kilometers above the comet's center, the ESOC said in a statement.
"Philae is alone, it's on its own now," said Stephan Ulamec, Philae Lander manager at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), a member of a consortium which led the European Space Agency mission.
Rosetta, carrying Philae, has chased Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for over 10 years since being launched on March 2004, and traveled for about 7 billion kilometers, passing the Earth, Mars and two asteroids on its way. Philae would fly for another seven hours after the separation before it touched down at a site, named "Agilkia," on the "head" of the duck-shaped comet, said ESOC.
Checks over last night, however, found that a thruster system onboard Philae that would prevent it from rebounding could not be activated at the moment of touchdown.
By Ruchi Singh
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
