Philae on the comet tchouri

After a descent of seven hours, the Philae module the European probe Rosetta has indeed landed on the comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Story of this exceptional event, which took place about 600 million miles ...

After a journey of ten years and three months in orbit around Comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Rosetta dropped Philae November 12 to 10 hours. After a descent of nearly seven hours, landing was finally confirmed around 17 hours, despite the uneven ground conformation of the comet and the non-activation of the cold gas thruster would help to secure the module to the surface. Another anomaly was reported shortly after, the two harpoons provided have not been learned. Without them, the Philae module is not attached to the floor and nothing prevents rebounding. In fact, the European Space Agency (ESA) announced the next morning that the lander had actually accomplished two rebounds, one of almost two hours and the other about seven minutes.

 A first image of the surface of the comet, received at 11:00 on 13 November, shows that Philae is now well placed on the surface. He even stopped. Two jumps have however made to move half a mile compared to where he landed the first time. Its exact location has yet to be determined. Philae is now blocked against the wall of a cliff in a position that is far from ideal: only two of her feet resting on the ground, the third was not in support. Harvesting operations of scientific data, such as drilling, require movement or have an effect on the surface are avoided for the moment, as they may cause a new surge of Philae, which is still not fixed to the comet.

 If things did not go as planned, this mission is no less a success. Eight of the ten instruments on board were fired and have already begun to provide valuable information to scientists.

The lander is currently working with a battery that should provide energy during the 60 hours following his separation from Rosetta, calculated to allow all instruments run at least once a term. In theory, the solar panels must then take over to ensure its energy supply. Philae gold is currently in a very dark rocky area, sunny half past one only every twelve hours, seven hours against the planned site for the park. At this first difficulty is the fact that some panels may have been damaged. Under these conditions, Philae will probably interrupt his exhausted battery once.

To focus on the objectives and the scientific challenges of this mission out of the ordinary, please visit our media folder.


 

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Prof. Sérgio Torres