Philae (spacecraft)
Robotic European Space Agency lander that accompanied the Rosetta spacecraft / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Philae (/ˈfaɪliː/[6] or /ˈfiːleɪ/[7]) was a robotic European Space Agency lander that accompanied the Rosetta spacecraft[8][9] until it separated to land on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, ten years and eight months after departing Earth.[10][11][12] On 12 November 2014, Philae touched down on the comet, but it bounced when its anchoring harpoons failed to deploy and a thruster designed to hold the probe to the surface did not fire.[13] After bouncing off the surface twice, Philae achieved the first-ever "soft" (nondestructive) landing on a comet nucleus,[14][15][16] although the lander's final, uncontrolled touchdown left it in a non-optimal location and orientation.[17]
Mission type | Comet lander | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Operator | European Space Agency / DLR | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
COSPAR ID | 2004-006C | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Website | www | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Mission duration | Planned: 1–6 weeks Active: 12–14 November 2014 Hibernation: 15 November 2014 – 13 June 2015 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Spacecraft properties | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Manufacturer | DLR / MPS / CNES / ASI | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Launch mass | 100 kg (220 lb)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Payload mass | 21 kg (46 lb)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Dimensions | 1 × 1 × 0.8 m (3.3 × 3.3 × 2.6 ft)[1] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Power | 32 watts at 3 AU[2] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Start of mission | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Launch date | 2 March 2004, 07:17 (2004-03-02UTC07:17) UTC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Rocket | Ariane 5G+ V-158 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Launch site | Kourou ELA-3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Contractor | Arianespace | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
End of mission | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Last contact | 9 July 2015, 18:07 (2015-07-09UTC18:08) UTC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko lander | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Landing date | 12 November 2014, 17:32 UTC[3] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Landing site | Abydos[4] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Despite the landing problems, the probe's instruments obtained the first images from a comet's surface.[18] Several of the instruments on Philae made the first direct analysis of a comet, sending back data that would be analysed to determine the composition of the surface.[19] In October 2020, scientific journal Nature published an article revealing what Philae had discovered while it was operational on the surface of 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.[20]
On 15 November 2014 Philae entered safe mode, or hibernation, after its batteries ran down due to reduced sunlight and an off-nominal spacecraft orientation at the crash site. Mission controllers hoped that additional sunlight on the solar panels might be sufficient to reboot the lander.[21] Philae communicated sporadically with Rosetta from 13 June to 9 July 2015,[22][23][24] but contact was then lost. The lander's location was known to within a few tens of metres but it could not be seen. Its location was finally identified in photographs taken by Rosetta on 2 September 2016 as the orbiter was sent on orbits closer to the comet. The now-silent Philae was lying on its side in a deep crack in the shadow of a cliff. Knowledge of its location would help in interpretation of the images it had sent.[4][25] On 30 September 2016, the Rosetta spacecraft ended its mission by crashing in the comet's Ma'at region.[26]
The lander is named after the Philae obelisk, which bears a bilingual inscription and was used along with the Rosetta Stone to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphs. Philae was monitored and operated from DLR's Lander Control Center in Cologne, Germany.[27]