Last farewell to Philae, on the comet lost – Le Figaro

The last attempts to wake the little robot that landed on November 12, 2014 the comet 67P were interrupted by the German Space Agency.

the European Space Agency (ESA) refuses to bury the Philae robot lost on comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko, but there is now more hope to reconnect after more than 7 months of radio silence. This is the DLR, the German Space Agency, which brings the sad news in a statement entitled “It’s time to say goodbye to Philae”. In Cologne, the engineers of the little robot control center built by France and Germany have indeed stopped send commands to try to wake him up.

The CNES, the National Centre for Studies space, keeps his side a tone is optimistic, emphasizing that the European probe Rosetta, which continues its observer mission around the comet, did not extinguish the antenna for receiving signals sent by Philae. But this optimism is not shared by the experts, as the comet moves away quickly from the sun, temperatures drop to its surface, and potentially energy received by the solar panels of the small robot lander decreases. Since the late-January, conditions have become too hostile for Philae. Even in the best case, he would not have enough energy to heat components above minus 45 ° C, and would be unable to function properly.

On the day of the landing on the comet on November 12, 2014, all did not work as expected, and it’s already a miracle if the small automatic laboratory was able to run almost 64 hours and above 80% complete its ambitious scientific program. Because at the time of touching the dusty floor of 67P, grapples supposed moor ground remained motionless. Philae then made a succession of four rebounds very slowly for about four hours due to the extremely weak gravity of the comet, and was caught leaning over the side, on the side of a dimly lit canyon by the sun. Without sufficient energy on its solar panels, he returned to hibernation after 64 hours its depleted batteries.

“To be honest and realistic, it really is unlikely that we hear again Philae “

It was not until June 13, 2015, when the comet was much closer to the sun, Rosetta has again captured radio signals issued by Philae. The robot was not dead, but later, six radio communications niches that followed were too short to allow European officials to regain control. And since July 9, nothing more signal, suggesting to experts that the machine had to have a breakdown of its telecommunication system. A sad end for a special assignment, who managed the feat twice to provide major advances in knowledge of comets, these primitive stars, witnesses of the early ages of the solar system, and to amaze the entire planet.