At the last minute managed to find a robot that went missing two years ago on a comet – News Gazeta.pl

It was to be quite different. The lander Philae, meter robot charged research equipment, should for a moment before touching the surface of comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko fire a harpoon to anchor and on its surface. To prevent reflection at the moment should operate the motor hold-down the lander.

It should. However, the engine did not work either, nor harpoon main and reserve. Perhaps we will never know now why that happened. Maybe it is because we expected a comet on a softer surface, and it turned out that the cover of the parched dust shell.

Quite the Philae bounced twice and lost. We know that the first unplanned jump threw him to the height of about a kilometer. But we did not know where he landed, he apparently rolled over and was not able to use the solar cells. He stopped after a few days, when she had finished the energy in the battery. He was able to perform only part of the planned research.

But specialists Rosetta mission could not just leave it. Finding Philae became apparently ambition of the team. The problem is that the little robot is very difficult to see at full stones of the desert, which is the surface of a comet.

Philae said a few times and it helped namierzeniu kilkudziesięciometrowego area where there was a robot. However, the pictures was still not to be seen. It was close to the surface of the comet at a distance 2.7 kilometers allowed to take pictures with a resolution of 5 cm per pixel.

This, taken on September 2 finally managed to spot Philae. The lander is on the right side of the photograph, almost on the edge of the photo in the dark crevasse.

Fig. ESA / Rosetta / MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS / UPD / LAM / IAA / SSO / INTA / UPM / DASP / IDA

The closer you can see that after an unsuccessful landing and uncontrolled jumping robot actually rolled over. Close-up of shows in which position lies. Can even identify individual instruments:

Fig. ESA / Rosetta / MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS / UPD / LAM / IAA / SSO / INTA / UPM / DASP / IDA

This was already the last moment to find the missing lander. September 30 Rosetta mission will end – will approach the comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko and fall into one of the deep cracks on its surface. Until the last moment to transmit data to Earth from which scientists wish to obtain additional information about the construction of a comet.