It ’s been a tense week for outer space exploration , to say the least . But after a nail biting few days that kept millions around the world on the sharpness of their seats , with digit and toe tightly crossed , the ESA has denote that the Philae lander has gone to sleep .
The drama began to extend shortly after cheers were exchanged as Philae made its momentous arrival onto comet 67P / Churyumov - Gerasimenko on Wednesday . The probe ’s anchoring harpoon failed to deploy as it made contact with the control surface , and because the gravity on the comet is very faint , Philae spring . It took two hours for the robot to finally settle , but regrettably it ended up stuck along the edge of a crater which blank out the sun ’s irradiation from reaching its solar panels .
Although the probe had 60 hour of elemental barrage , it has only been receiving1.5 hoursof sunlight during each 12 - hour mean solar day which is not enough to recharge its battery sufficiently . The ESA seek to move the lander into a dependable position by aerate its drill , but they only manage to bring up it by 4 centimeters . Philae has now fallen into “ idle manner , ” with no further touch possible unless the probe get enough succus from the Sun . Unfortunately , the ESA think this is unlikely to happen in the coming days .
While this is doubtless disappointing to pick up , what has been reach so far is not to be sniffed at . Never before has a spacecraft land on a comet , and this singular feat was achieved using 1980s technology . And despite all the technical problems , Philae completed its elemental science missionary work and returned heaps of science data point from its instrument , alongside some spectacular images of its surroundings .
“ It has been a huge success,”saidlander manager Stephen Ulamec , “ the whole team is entranced . ”
While Philae ’s future is uncertain , the Rosetta mission is still go strong and the pair will rendezvous over the coming months as 67P / C - G creeps towards the Sun . The data gather by the artificial satellite will allow scientists to respect both short- and foresighted - term changes that take situation on the comet , which will hopefully cater us with a alone insight into the history of our Solar System .
[ ViaESAandBBC News ]
