After fifteen days of silence, the European robot Philae installed on tchouri comet, managed to communicate Thursday for twenty minutes with the Rosetta probe, said Friday CNES, the French space agency. It is “very encouraging news for the rest of the mission of Philae,” since the comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko will reach its perihelion (the closest point to the Sun) on the night of August 12 to 13 next, said the CNES in a statement. Philae had not given him since June 24 and the teams of the European Space Agency (ESA) officials robot began to worry.
After seven months of hibernation, the robot -laboratoire awoke June 13 Since, he struggles to establish adequate communication with escorting Rosetta comet, but remains at a respectful distance from it to not be disturbed by jets of gas and dust it sends.
10 instruments
The eighth contact, Thursday night, lasted longer than the others. Above all, it has remained stable for 12 minutes and the robot was able to send data. “This connection is achieved by far the best niche, with little cuts. It bodes well for the future, since such quality communication allow teams to take control of Philae and control the while, until now, the robot wakes up, goes out and works independently “said CNES.
Philae has ten instruments. Scientists hope it will find such complex organic molecules that could provide clues about the origin of life on Earth. The robot has made November 12 a historic first landing on the nucleus of comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko. He was able to work for 60 hours before dozing off for lack of sufficient sunlight to allow its solar batteries run.
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