Europe’s Rosetta space probe – which is carrying two instruments designed and built by Boulder’s Southwest Research Institute – has located its lost Philae lander wedged in a “dark crack” nearly two years after its historic comet landing.
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Rosetta, which took off in 2004, became the first spacecraft to orbit a comet’s nucleus, to examine a comet from close proximity and to dispatch and lander onto the surface of a comet, according to the European Space Agency.
Although in June and July previous year the lander tried to communicate, the new images show that the cliff where it crashed was a permanently shadowed part of the comet.
The news about the discovery of Philae has come only weeks before Rosetta is all ready for a dramatic touchdown itself on the surface of 67P to bring the mission to an end.In a statement on September 5, ESA officials expressed their happiness over the discovery of Philae at almost the last minute.
File- High-resolution cameras on Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft have found space probe Philae, which successfully landed on a comet in a pinpoint operation only to lose power because its solar-driven batteries were in the shade. “It is incredible that we have captured this at the final hour”.
Philae (lower right) was found September 4 in a shadowy area of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, marked in the image at left.
The lander’s batteries died three days later and the spacecraft went into hibernation.
Philae was equipped with several harpoons that were supposed to fire as it contacted the surface of 67P, anchoring it in place.
The European Space Agency (ESA) zoomed in on the snap…
Before it shut down, Philae did send photos showing its landing spot.
Without knowing its exact location until now, ESA scientists used radio ranging data to tie its location down to an area spanning a few tens of metres.
The European Space Agency (ESA) found the probe Philae after it appeared in new images downloaded from the Rosetta probe.
It bounced on impact with the comet, and ended up being stuck in a shaded part of the comet.
The ESA scientists were especially pleased to receive the photos, which were taken on Friday, because there is only a month left in the Rosetta mission.
“Now that the lander search is finished we feel ready for Rosetta’s landing, and look forward to capturing even closer images of Rosetta’s touchdown site”.
The mission is scheduled to end on September 30, with Rosetta crashing onto the comet.
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Scientists hope that mission will reveal the secrets of the comet’s interior.
