Rosetta EOM, End of mission alternatives Options

[jasedm]

A little premature perhaps, but I was wondering if there were as yet any firm plans for disposing of/de-commissioning Rosetta at the end of the mission?

The Rosetta website FAQ section states in answers, that a decision on this would be made in late 2014, but I've been unable to turn up any information relating to it.

A six-month extension has been mooted and I presume this would involve some closer approaches to 67P towards the EOM, with subsequent very high resolution studies.

The propellant issue is, as ever the prime governing factor (aside from funding of course) especially in view of the existing leak in the reaction control system onboard the spacecraft.

It would be great to think that Rosetta could be landed on the comet as NEAR did at Eros, with similar images transmitted all the way down, or a short 'hover' a few tens of metres above a particularly active part of the surface long enough to directly sample jets, or image particles as they come away from the comet.

Should the mission be able to pin down Philae's location in the coming months, might there even be an opportunity to image the lander at a reasonable resolution?

Jase