Vid With a beard, garish Hawaiian shirt and hideous tattoos, the ESA's Dr Matt Taylor looks more like a hipster hobo than lead scientist on a historic space mission.

But in spite of his questionable dress sense, Dr Taylor remains science boffin on the Rosetta mission, which will see the European Space Agency spaceship attempt to land its Philae probe on a comet.

The probe is slated to land at 16.00 GMT today, Wednesday. But meanwhile, we've dug out this timelapse footage of the Doctor getting a truly appalling commemorative tattoo on his upper thigh.

Music fans may notice his Cannibal Corpse t-shirt, indicating the good doctor is a heavy metal fan.

For the sake of all humankind, let's hope his space skills are sharper than his music taste and dress sense.

Video of Matt Taylor getting his tattoo

Dr Taylor appeared on BBC Breakfast this morning, sparking a Twitter frenzy:

Matt Taylor, @ESA_Rosetta project scientist on #CometLanding has the coolest tattoo (pic @BBCBreakfast): pic.twitter.com/niHg7xrdbu

— Dr Paul Coxon (@paulcoxon) November 12, 2014

Dr Matt Taylor #rosettamission a proper cool scientist @ESA_Rosetta pic.twitter.com/eqAUyKlehB

— Simon Bull (@simonjbull) November 12, 2014

Our space vulture Brid-Aine Parnell is currently at mission command, where she is preparing to watch the ESA make space history. ®