The key
• The big day has arrived for the little robot Philae passenger for more than ten years of European space probe Rosetta. Wednesday he succeeded his landing on the comet “tchouri”
• A 511 million km from the Earth, Rosetta dropped Philae, which descend in free fall to comet “tchouri” about twenty miles away. He will take about seven hours to reach its target. Its mission. Soil analysis of the comet
• The separation between the robot and the probe must be held to 9:35 French time. Confirmation of his landing is expected to share 17 hours.
• On Twitter, follow #posetoiphilae
See also Rosetta, Ambassador of Europe Space
The live broadcast of the CNES ( in French):
The live broadcast of the European Space Agency:
5:40 p.m.. Fly in the ointment: the two spears that were ground anchor Philae do not seem to have worked and the robot could therefore be installed precariously on the comet. ESA considers the possibility of a later start to consolidate the position of Philae.
5:03 p.m.. Mission accomplished! The European Space Agency has received the <"inter-simple" span class => signal confirming that Philae managed to fix the floor of the comet.
4:55 p.m.. Pending confirmation, listen to the song of the comet. International Mail notes on its website a recording of “his” issued by “tchouri” actually its magnetic radiation converted into sound waves whose frequency is accelerated to the human ear can perceive.
16.30. The estimated time of landing of Philae has passed. Half an hour
3:56 p.m.. A little more than half an hour to put on Philae 67P, it was the turn of Rosetta transmitting an image of the robot shortly after the separation, he has already deployed three foot of the landing gear. This photo was taken by the OSIRIS camera on Rosetta.
15.20. ESA released the first picture taken by Philae after separation: it shows the probe and one of its panels, a little blurry. The image was taken by the CIVA instrument consisting of six micro-cameras for photographing the surface of the comet. The apparatus also includes a spectrometer that will enable Philae analyze samples collected on the surface of “tchouri.”
(Photo ESA / Rosetta / Philae / CIVA)
14.30. A couple of hours of asking Philae on the comet, the instrument Siva an integrated robot camera, transmitted the first images that ESA has not yet released but fleetingly glimpsed on a computer screen shot in the live show.
24:20. As expected, the robot has made its landing gear.
24:10. After a little less than two hours of cut – expected – communications between Rosetta and Philae, the link was restored. Rosetta not communicated during the maneuver that was performed after separation, while Philae had cut contact time to start its descent. The control center in Darmstadt ESA has successively resumed contact with the two ships.
11:50. The New York Times has posted on its website a selection of very detailed pictures of the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
10:30. To get an idea of the size of the comet 67P, this illustration superimposed on the city of Paris. Philae is to share the approximate size of a washing machine. Comparison with other cities is available here.
10:06 <. / span> It’s confirmed! Philae is separated from Rosetta, plummeting to “tchouri.”
9:50. Pending receipt of the signal Philae early controversy around the shirt worn by Matt Taylor, one of the researchers working on the project.
9:35. Philae is theoretically detached from Rosetta to begin its descent towards the comet. The signal is en route to Earth and should arrive shortly after 10:00.
8:08. The leaders of the European probe Rosetta, which sails 10 years in space, on Wednesday morning gave the final green light for the release of his little robot Philae, to try to land on a comet, a first. “We have the final green light” to drop the robot on the comet “tchouri,” announced the European Space Agency (ESA), from the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt (Germany). The separation between the Rosetta and Philae should normally be made at 9:35 am Wednesday. The final green light comes after a series of audits since Tuesday night. The aim was to ensure that particular Rosetta was on track to properly dump the robot. “On the road to separation!” tweeted in the wake of the Rosetta mission.
In orbit since August around the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko 67P (“tchouri” for short), the Rosetta probe is close to gradually arrive at a distance of twenty miles.
Photo composite of the comet 67P taken 31.8 miles away Nov. 4. (ESA / Rosetta / NAVCAM – CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO)
After careful examination of the surface of the comet, the European Space Agency finally selected the site “Agilkia” to ask for Philae. The operation looks delicate. “Tchouri” being little bulky, gravity is very low, so that Philae will weigh a gram on contact. The lander will therefore need to keep it to cling to the ground using harpoons that activate while the engine pin you against “tchouri.”
Animation Video the descent of Philae:
Click on the graphics for zoom:
The descent of Philae mark a new step in a long journey that started in 2004. To reach the comet, Rosetta has traveled a long and complex journey, making three passes near the Earth and near Mars to benefit from “slingshot effect” successive between March 2005 and November 2009. During these maneuvers, the probe has also been two asteroids Steins in September 2008 (see here an animation of the approach Steins) and Lutetia in July 2010 ( photo and movie CG Lutetia).
After this first part of his journey and now beyond the orbit of Mars, Rosetta was mothballed for the rest of his journey gradually catching “tchouri” somewhere between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. In January 2014, Rosetta is reactive and in August it begins its final rendezvous with its target. It then initiates a complex maneuver and work towards the comet and photographed from all angles, a prelude to sending Philae.
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