Europe’s Rosetta team have been continuing efforts to re-establish reliable contact with little lander Philae, lodged in an unidentified spot on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
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“It is also possible that one of the landers’ two radio receiver units is damaged and that one of the transmitter units is not fully functional”.
“No contact has been made with Philae since Thursday 9 July”.
On its last communication with scientists on July 9th, Philae reported that the amount of sun falling on its solar panels changed significantly from June to July.
Scientists believe the probe may have been nudged by out-gassing from the comet, which is becoming more active as it travels closer to the sun and heats up.
The Rosetta probe, which is orbiting the comet and acts as a bridging station for the lander’s transmissions, has been unable to get closer to the heavenly body’s surface to try to make contact.
“The lander could have moved”, the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) said in a statement on Monday, adding: “even a slight change in its position could mean that its antennas are now obstructed”. The team is hopeful that Philae will have received its new instructions, since it can pick up and accept commands “in the blind”, and so it should obey them when it is next charged with sunlight. “There have been several times when we feared that the lander would not switch back on, but it has repeatedly taught us otherwise”, says Ulamec.
“This command has been transmitted to the lander”.
The lander has an “emergency programme” that will allow it to operate five instruments without any communication from Earth.
“With this work package, the thermal probe MUPUS measured temperatures, ROMAP and SESAME conducted measurements, and PTOLEMY and COSAC researched in “sniff” mode,” said Ulamec. The data collected would then be sent back to Earth via Rosetta, providing a reliable link could be established.
On a positive note, scientists are amazed that Philae is still fighting for its life and is trying to reach them from time to time.
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Scientists said the Philae spacecraft, which had landed on a comet past year, may have shifted in its position, making it hard to communicate with the space probe.
