Rosetta, the first exploratory mission from Earth to rendezvous with a comet, will deploy its lander, Philae, to the surface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Nov. 12, the European Space Agency has announced.

The landmark occasion will actually happen one day later than the Nov. 11 date the space agency had first indicated earlier this month, according to a news release.

Philae's landing site, referenced as Site J, is located on the so-called "head," or smaller of the comet's two distinct "lobes."

Site J and Philae's backup set-down spot on the larger lobe were selected six weeks after Rosetta met up with the the comet Aug. 6, the immediate goal of its 10-year journey through the solar system.

Through its long trip through the black sky over those years, Rosetta has been processing data of the comet, a hold-over from the early days of the solar system's 4.6 billion-year history.

ESA officials said the latest data from Rosetta on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko will be released at the time of Philae's landing.

Site J was chosen unanimously over four other candidate primary landing locations because the majority of terrain within a square kilometer area shows sloping surface forms of less than 30 degrees relative to the comet's vertical orientation -- and there are relatively few large boulders mission managers are able to detect.

Furthermore, the site also receives sufficient daily illumination from the sun to recharge Philae's on-board fuel cells and continue surface science operations beyond the initial 64-hours the battery was designed to function before an energy boost.

Presuming all goes as planned, Rosetta will release Philae at 08:35 GMT/09:35 Central European Time, at a distance of about 22.5 kilometers, or slightly less than 14 miles, from the comet's center, with the lander touching down at Site J about seven hours later.

Since at that point it will take 28 minutes and 20 seconds for Rosetta to send a signal to Earth, the ESA expects to get confirmation of Philae's status at approximately 16:00 GMT/17:00 CET.

If, for some reason, mission managers end up deciding to land at backup Site C, Philae's separation from the orbiter will happen at 13:04 GMT/14:04 CET, 12.5 km, or about 7.7 miles, from the center of the comet, with the landing happening four hours later -- and confirmation arriving to Earth at around 17:30 GMT/18:30 CET.

The ESA says the primary landing site and landing scenario will receive final confirmation Oct. 14, following a formal lander operations readiness review.

The same day, the space agency will announce public competition for naming the primary landing site.

The Rosetta orbiter will continue studying the comet and its environment -- using an array of on-board science instruments as they orbit the sun together.

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is on an elliptical, 6.5-year orbit that ranges from beyond Jupiter to between the orbits of Mars and Earth at its closest point to the Sun.

Rosetta will accompany the comet for more than a year, as they swing around the sun and head to the outer solar system.