The robot Philae, which is on comet “tchouri” and was not given to him since several days, managed to communicate for 19 minutes Friday with probe Rosetta, announced DLR, the German space agency. Philae sent data on her condition and will now be able to work at night thanks to recharge its batteries.
The robot lab, who woke up on June 13 after seven months hibernation, had succeeded that day to communicate for two minutes with the Earth via the probe and transmitting data. The next day there was again a contact but of poor quality. Since he had remained silent.
This third contact confirms that “Philae is fine,” the DLR in a statement.
To improve communications with Philae, the Rosetta team who escort the comet on its way to the Sun, decided to alter the flight plan of the probe.
The contact was restored Friday between 1:20 p.m. ET 1:39 p.m. GMT (3:39 p.m. 3:20 p.m. ET Paris time) DLR says that loads of piloting the robot to the European Space Agency (ESA).
The robot lab sent data including module status.
“Now, LG operates at a temperature of 0 degrees Celsius, which means the battery is hot enough to store energy,” the DLR.
“This means that Philae will also work at night, “says DLR. Recently, Philae working day through its solar panels but its battery was too cold to charge.
About the comet, the day lasts just over 12:00.
The robot, which landed between cliffs and stayed in the shade for several months, also sent recorded data last week. The engineers found that the brightness had increased as the comet approaches the sun. “At the end of the contact, the four solar panels were receiving energy,” says DLR.
Friday, “communication has suffered several interruptions but otherwise it was the first time that the signal was stable over a long period, “says the DLR.
” We need a stable and long contact in order to run the experiments as planned, “says DLR.
Philae has ten instruments. Scientists hope it will find such complex organic molecules that could give the keys to the emergence of life on Earth.
The robot has made November 12 a historic first landing on the nucleus of the comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko. He worked for 60 hours before dozing off for lack of sufficient sunlight to allow its solar batteries run
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