The mission of the first robotic probe to land on a comet reached a high point on Friday when the spacecraft radioed back to Earth that it had successfully drilled into the comet’s body.
Scientists with the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Rosetta mission did not know if the small lander that touched down on the comet on Wednesday would have enough battery power to phone its findings back to Earth 500 million kilometers away.
Rosetta’s lander, called Philae, failed to anchor itself as planned on the comet’s body, causing it to bounce and reland at about 1km away from its original target.
Photo: Reuters
Photographs and other data later relayed by Philae indicate it is trapped in shadow, suggesting it ended up by a cliff wall or inside a crater. With battery power dwindling, scientists sent commands for Philae to attempt to use its drill to obtain samples from the comet’s body.
Those results were still pending, but on Friday, Philae made a belated radio call via the orbiting Rosetta mothership, reporting that its drill successfully operated.
“First comet drilling is a fact,” ESA posted on Twitter on Friday night.
Scientists also decided to attempt to reposition the lander so its solar panels could recharge.
“Just started lifting myself up a little and will now rotate to try and optimize the solar power,” ESA said on the Philae lander Twitter feed.
Scientists said the lander might communicate again yesterday at about 10am GMT.
ESA scientists said on their blog early yesterday that “from now on no contact would be possible unless sufficient sunlight falls on the solar panels to generate enough power to wake it up.”
Scientists said they would not know until yesterday if they had succeeded in repositioning the lander so it would be able to catch enough sunlight to recharge its batteries.
One of the most important tasks for the 100kg probe was to obtain samples from inside the comet for chemical analysis.
Comets are believed to be pristine remnants from the formation of our solar system about 4.6 billion years ago. They contain rock and ice that have preserved ancient organic molecules like a time capsule and may provide insight into how the planets and life evolved.
Philae’s drill descended more than 25cm on Friday, penetrating the comet’s surface.
Previous robotic probes conducted brief fly-bys.
After a 10-year flight, Rosetta arrived at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August for a mission that is expected to run at least through December next year.
“This mission is fantastic; let’s look at what we have achieved, not at what we would have done differently. This is unique and will be unique forever,” Rosetta flight director Andrea Accomazzo said.
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