Goodbye Philae! The teams responsible for the European small robot installed on the comet tchouri but silent for seven months have resolved not to send commands while still listening to her as a precaution.
The odds of making contact Philae is with “close to zero” and “the time has come to say goodbye” , said on Friday the German Space agency DLR in a statement.
“the lander Rosetta is promised eternal hibernation” , wrote the European Space Agency (ESA) on his blog.
in practice the DLR stopped sending commands to the robot-European laboratory camped since mid-November 2014 on the nucleus of comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
“I still listen but I fear that Philae is faced with difficult conditions “, Rosetta said in a tweet accompanied a drawing, where the probe shows concern imagining her little sleepy Philae on the comet.
“There is really very little hope of receiving a signal” from Philae, told AFP Ulamec Stephan, head of the DLR lander.
tchouri comet moves away from the Sun, which means that solar panels which the robot gets its energy receiving less and less light. The comet also cools and Philae. Or it can operate below a certain temperature.
The receiving antennas of the probe – its “ears” – are always lit and “we remain prepared in case Philae woke up” says Mr. Ulamec. “But to be honest and realistic, it is really unlikely that we hear again” , has he said.
The CNES (National Centre for Space Studies ) seems to believe a little. “Although minimal, hoping to hear the little robot continues to exist again, Rosetta approaching the comet regularly (…)” , he said.
After ten years of traveling as a passenger of Rosetta, Philae conducted November 12, 2014 a historic first landing on the comet. After several rebounds, it stabilized in the shade, lying down.
Equipped with ten instruments, he worked for 60 hours before falling asleep for lack of energy. He woke up in June 2015, but has not been heard from since July 9.
Scientists at Philae mission hard to say that the adventure is over.
They asked ESA Rosetta, which is about 50 km from tchouri, carried out in the coming weeks a series of brief flybys above the site where it is installed.
This wish was echoed by CNES and DLR. “We asked if it was possible” and “We know that ESA has good reasons for not accepting the request” which is mainly ” symbolic “, admits Ulamec.
” It’s really dangerous “ for Rosetta to get closer to the comet continues to reject the gas and dust since its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) in August, he says.
however, when the comet will be soothed this summer, Rosetta will approach to 10 or 20 km from the surface the comet. She will try to uncover exactly the robot to take pictures.
Its mission will end in September when she “pose” less harshly possible tchouri to end his days.
farewell to Philae is progressive. “We can not officially announce the end because no signal does not prove that the robot is really dead” says Mark McCaughrean, scientific advisor to ESA. “But after seven months of silence, I think the general consensus is that it’s over.”
Photos: © ESA / AFP / File MEDIALIAB
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