He had to study the composition of comets and help answer the question, where did the solar system. The mission lasted only 60 hours. After landing on the surface of a celestial body in November Philae he rolled into the shadows and lost contact with the base. “He slept” until today.
The probe “fell asleep” with “little” crash, which turned out to be serious consequences. Nitrogen powered engine is not fired, and harpoons, which had to fix Philae to the surface, not worked. The lander twice bounced off the comet and settled in a place far away from planned. You probably found himself in the shadow of the mountain, which did not reach him adequate amount of solar energy. This in turn caused to discharge the batteries. Along with the comet’s rotation around the axis of communication with the Philae was broken.
After several months of silence Philae finally “woke up”.
informed scientists from the European Space Agency, the initiators of the project, the lander began transmitting data that are currently being processed. Because the comet 67 / P Churyumov-Gerasimenko 12 which examines the probe is approaching the Sun, at Philae falls more light and accumulators can be refresh charged. The researchers hope that lądownikowi enough energy to move on to the designated place, where will launch a study on the comet. The lander is still because it is not able to take intensive work.
Philae is part of a pioneering Rosetta mission, which is the project of the European Space Agency. The lander settled on a comet on Nov. 12 and had her examine the matter. The project, launched in 2004, involved 50 entities from the United States and 14 European countries, including Polish. Local scientists built a device to measure the temperature.
Reuters
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