ESA finds lost Philae lander just in time to crash it into a comet
The European Space Agency had begun to lose hope of pinpointing the first space probe to land on a comet.
The European Space Agency had begun to lose hope of pinpointing the first space probe to land on a comet.
Europe's Rosetta space probe has located its lost聽Philae聽lander, wedged in a "dark crack" on a comet, the European Space Agency said Monday.
Rosetta's camera finally captured images on Friday of the lander on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, weeks before the probe's own mission ends,聽the agency said聽. The pictures showing the lander's body and two of its three legs were taken as Rosetta passed within 2.7 kilometers (1.7 miles) of the surface.
After being launched in 2004, Rosetta took 10 years to accelerate and catch up with comet 67P. In November 2014 it released聽Philae, achieving the first landing of a spacecraft on a comet.
Philae聽bounced after its initial touchdown and its precise location on the comet couldn't be pinned down until now, though its general vicinity was known.
After sending data to Earth for three days its battery ran out and it went into hibernation, only to recharge enough as the comet came closer to the sun to communicate briefly with Rosetta in mid-2015.
ESA plans to crash Rosetta into the comet Sept. 30, because the probe is unlikely to survive lengthy hibernation in orbit as the comet heads away from the sun.
Data from Rosetta and聽Philae聽have already improved scientists' understanding of the nature of comets and the role they played in the early universe. Analyzing the data fully is expected to keep researchers busy for years.
In its first 57 hours on the planet, the little lander sent a wealth of information back to scientists聽on Earth, as 海角大神's Pete Spotts reported in Nov. 2014:
At the time, the lander's project manager, Stephan Ulamec,聽told Mr. Spotts that he was "confident that Philae will resume contact with us and that we will be able to operate the instruments again.鈥� But as time wore on, the team grew anxious that they had lost the lander forever.
"We were beginning to think that聽Philae聽would remain lost forever," said Patrick Martin, ESA's Rosetta mission manager. "It is incredible we have captured this at the final hour."
Rosetta project scientist Matt Taylor said that locating聽Philae聽provides missing information "needed to put聽Philae's聽three days of science into proper context."