SPACE — On November 12 2014, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Philae spacecraft landed on Comet 67P. It was a very tricky landing and should not be underestimated.
Philae separated from the Rosetta spacecraft orbiting the large comet. He should have used a spear to protect his body from the impact of the comet’s surface. However, the prepared spear was never fired.
When it landed, Philae was immediately bounced back into space. The first bounce pushed Philae half a mile above the comet’s surface. The comet’s gravity pulls it downwards again, like an object falling to the earth’s surface.
However, every time it touches the comet’s surface, it continues to bounce back up. Philae drifted and bounced around the comet for two hours before Rosetta’s cameras lost track of it.
Also read: Rosetta, the first spacecraft to successfully follow a comet
Scientists suspect the object was trapped in a dark place, where sunlight could not reach its solar panels. The battery lasted more than two days on the surface of Comet 67P which was drifting aggressively.
Because of this, Philae still had time to complete some scientific research. Most importantly, it discovered organic molecules that had never been detected in any comet before.
Philae was lost for almost two years before scientists discovered it in 2016. Images from Rosetta show Philae stuck in a dark gap above the comet shaped like a rubber duck. Source: Space.com
2023-11-12 15:47:00
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