INTERVIEW Rosetta orbiting Comet “tchouri” stopped contact Philae. Philippe Gaudon who was responsible for this mission for CNES back on this historic adventure …
This is the end. Philae little robot 100kg posed since November 12, 2014 on tchouri comet
is definitely dumb. Europe’s Rosetta probe, in orbit around the celestial body,
finally cut the communication with the lander with whom she has had no contact from July 9, 2015.
Philippe Gaudon, who was the project manager for the Rosetta mission to the National Centre for Studies spatial (CNES) in Toulouse, meets 20 Minutes and returns on this human and scientific adventure.
Why should I cut off communication between Philae and Rosetta as the “crash “orbiter on the comet is scheduled for 30 September?
it had been a reason for the end of January, we were listening but we knew it there was little chance to hear again Philae
& gt;. & gt; Read also: This time it’s really over for Philae, which will find itself alone
The comet moves away more and more of the sun, it is today 520 million kilometers and the energy received by the solar panels decreases. It is necessary to save them to continue to operate ten of the 11 instruments of Rosetta, either sniffing gas, analysis of plasma or the camera.
By the end of September that Rosetta will do?
Rosetta is 10 km in orbit around the comet and by September, we will try to get closer, 5 km, if the activity of the comet permits. For now, he continues to observe the surface of the comet, which will allow to compare it with the time it was closer to the sun and see its evolution over the past two years.
& gt; & gt; Read also: The Rosetta probe will crash into the comet beauty “Tchoury”
Rosetta continues to transmit all these data and this can take place for 6 to 8 hours a day. But the orbiter has less and less power, so we do what is necessary.
For the operation, we will use the fuel stored on board yet, there are still a few kilos on 1,700 present at the launch, in March 2014.
the great discoveries made thanks to the data collected have they all done?
with this mission, we have a million times data on comets. We are archiving so that they are usable even in forty years. Today, scientists have primarily used data collected between 2014 and 2015, we still come across the results of their studies.
But we can still expect announcements in the coming months about molecules, including through Rosina instrument that analyzes the gas
& gt;. & gt; Read also: Two key ingredients of life detected for the first time on a comet
What are the major findings of this mission
We were full of? surprise. For example on the surface, it is steep, a cliff as we might have thought that the outgassing of the comet would have left a flat surface, like a glacier … And we do not yet understand why, we wonder how is the transition between the inside and outside of the comet and what makes this area
the discovery of molecular oxygen in large quantities also questioned. is this formed in the comet? Before the comet? We also wonder about the absence of magnetic field.
“We have learned many things, but now he’ll have other missions to have to answer some of our questions.”
Will there a number 2 Rosetta mission?
Not in the short term. We’ll have to wait at least 20 years to return to a comet. There are so many other things to go forward, as the satellites of Jupiter, Saturn, the dark matter of the Universe.
One of the next tasks which we will hear about Mascot, conducted with the Japanese. The lander will land on an asteroid in 2019. There is also one in preparation to go to Mercury, launched in 2018 and should happen by 2025.
What will be your greatest moment of this adventure?
The landing. Despite the rebounds of Philae, we were unfortunate in some ways but also very lucky. That is why we want to return as soon as possible
& gt;. & Gt; See our “21st Minute” on Rosetta here
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