One giant leap for mankind
Science has, for the first time in human history, successfully made contact with a comet in orbit. Serving as the culmination of a project almost ten years in the making, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta mission landed its Philae probe on comet 67P/Churyumov Gerasimenko on Nov. 12.
“Our ambitious Rosetta mission has secured a place in the history books,” said Jean-Jacques Dordain, ESA’s Director General. “Not only is it the first o rendezvous with and orbit a comet, but it is now also the first to deliver a lander to a comet’s surface.”
“With Rosetta, we are opening a door to the origin of planet Earth, and fostering a better understanding of our future. ESA and its Rosetta mission partners have achieved something extraordinary today.”
Philae’s landing was not without incident, however, as researchers studying Philae’s first sets of data discovered that the lander had made not one, but three landings on Comet 67P’s surface. The lander initially touched down at the intended landing site, before lifting from the comet’s surface two more times. Philae’s three landings were a result of its automated harpoon system not activating.
Due to the lander’s new location, its batteries are no longer capable of receiving enough sunlight for a significant charge. While the original landing site offered seven hours of illumination per 12.4 hour comet day, the new landing site only allows 1.5 hours of sunlight.
To accommodate for the lack of sunlight, the lander’s body was lifted by about 4 cm, and rotated about 35 degrees in order to receive more sunlight. However, Philae’s power has depleted.
In spite of these setbacks, Philae was able to send back all of its housekeeping data, as well as its science data from its instruments.
“It has been a huge success, the whole team is delighted,” said Stephan Ulamec, lander manager at the DLR German Aerospace Agency. “Despite the unplanned series of three touchdowns, all of our instruments could be operated, and now it’s time to see what we’ve got.”
Scientists and researchers at the Rosetta mission are now looking to the future in hopes of re-establishing contact with the lander.
“We still hope that, at a later stage of mission, perhaps when we are nearer to the sun, that we might have enough solar illumination to wake up the lander and re-establish communication,” said Ulamec.
Though the Philae probe is a lander specifically designed to make direct contact with a comet, the Rosetta spacecraft consists of two elements. The first is the Rosetta comet orbiter and the second is the Philae lander, whose main mission was to make contact with Comet 67P.
The Rosetta comet orbiter will spend the next 17 months around Comet 67P, gathering data for the Rosetta team to analyze. The elemental composition of comet’s are largely unknown, and the Rosetta mission’s success represents humanity’s first collective steps in understanding the small, icy Solar System bodies.