View image synthesis of Philae lander. – ESA / ATG medialab

20 Minutes to agency

Do hear -we never Philae robot? The answer given since Monday, by those responsible for the Rosetta mission unfortunately seems “yes.”



No news bad news

Launched this weekend in an operation last chance to reconnect with the robot hero , researchers at the DLR (German center for aeronautics and astronautics) have failed. Philae, stuck in a corner of the Tchouri comet after landing missed the November 12, 2014 and mute since July 2015, was speechless.

On Monday, DLR even stated on his Twitter account that the command start-up of the wheel had been sent, but no signal had been received.

“No news is bad news,”, meanwhile, told La Dépêche du Midi , Philippe Gaudon, Rosetta Project Leader at CNES, the French space agency center that hosts the scientific operations and Philae navigation (Toulouse).

“it will be hard to move on “

” Officially we await the end of the month but Tchouri comet moves away from the sun. But in late January there will be 50 ° C is bearable limit for him, it is too late to Philae, “said the project manager.

If the communication window remains open until January 21, so it seems that Philae has indeed finished work. Philippe Gaudon has already indicated that “a good part of the team” had been affected “in other missions” and that it would “be hard to move on”

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