Paris (AFP) – “I found Philae”: within one month of the end of its mission, the European probe Rosetta is located in extremis the little robot, which had lost track since historic and eventful landing in November 2014 tchouri the comet.
Osiris camera of the probe came to capture an image of robotic laboratory, which is the size of a washing machine in s’ approaching only 2.7 kilometers from the surface of the comet.
It revealed that Philae was “wedged into a dark crack in the comet 67P,” said the European Space Agency (ESA) on its website, publishing the photo.
Dated September 2, it “clearly shows the robot body and two of its three legs,” said ESA.
“the search is over! I found Philae,” tweeted via his account Rosetta led by ESA.
the probe is currently 680 million kilometers from Earth.
This happy discovery “does not change the future of Philae” whose mission is complete, told the AFP Philippe Gaudon, head of the Rosetta project CNES, the French Space agency.
July 27, in fact, the Rosetta probe ended its efforts to resume communication with the little robot, silent since summer 2015.
But at ESA as CNES everyone is delighted that the mystery is solved.
“a month before the end of the mission, we are so happy to finally have a picture of Philae and discover as much detail incredible, “said Cecilia Tubiana team of the Osiris camera, which was the first to discover the snapshot after Sunday download.
” Philae is at the foot of a cliff in an area extremely rocky, “said Philippe Gaudon
-. poorly oriented antennas –
After landing on the comet and several rebounds,” he was stopped by a cliff and it s’ is placed in the supine position, with one foot in the well-lit air, and its branches horizontally, “he said.
” the antenna location, facing the ground, prevented communication between the robot and the probe, as we supposed, “said Mr. Gaudon.
the goal of the Rosetta mission, launched there over twenty years, is better understand the evolution of the solar system since birth, comets are considered remnants of primitive matter.
After ten years of traveling as a passenger Rosetta, Philae gained a global reputation November 12 2014 landing on comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko, a historic first.
Equipped with ten instruments, he worked for 60 hours before falling asleep for lack of energy. He woke up in June 2015, but has not been heard from him from July 9, 2015.
In February 2016, the leaders of robot teams have resolved not to send commands but they stayed to listen as a precaution.
Then in late July, Rosetta has stopped listening to save power.
Philae ended his days on the site of Abydos , 1.2 km from the place of landing.
“It’s exactly where the teams CNES had thought to have spotted in May 2015 from a rough image and calculations. But we were not sure at 100%, “noted Mr. Gaudon.
” This remarkable discovery ended a long and arduous research, “said Patrick Martin, head of Rosetta mission at ESA.
“We were starting to think Philae would be missing forever. it’s amazing that we managed to enter it in the last hours,” he added .
on 30 September, Rosetta, who escort the comet since August 2014, will slow down before a “controlled impact” on the surface of tchouri. This will be the end of this space adventure
. Source: AFP
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