philae Archives

March 10, 2014December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

Rise And Shine! Rosetta’s Comet Emerges From Behind Sun, Much Brighter Than Before

Artist's impression (not to scale) of the Rosetta orbiter deploying the Philae lander to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Credit: ESA–C. Carreau/ATG medialab.

After four months behind the sun from Earth’s perspective, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is back in view — and brighter than ever! New pictures of the comet reveal it is 50 percent brighter than the last images available from October 2013. You can see the result below the jump.

“The new image suggests that 67P is beginning to emit gas and dust at a relatively large distance from the Sun,” stated Colin Snodgrass, a post-doctoral researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany. Snodgrass added that this confirms previous work he and his colleagues did showing that in March 2014, the comet’s activity could be seen from Earth.

Pictures were taken with the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope from 740 million kilometers (460 million miles) away. As you can see in the image below, several exposures were taken to obtain the fainter comet. And we know that scientists are eager to take a closer look with Rosetta.

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on images obtained Feb. 28th, 2014 with the Very Large Telescope. Left: Several exposures were obtained of the faint comet, and superimposed upon each other, making stars appear as streaks. Right: The comet in an image processed to remove the stars. Credit: MPS/ESO

In January, the Rosetta spacecraft woke up after 31 months of hibernation (a little later than expected, but still healthy as ever.) It’s en route to meet up with the comet in August and will stay alongside it at least until 2015’s end. The next major step is to wake up its lander, Philae, which will happen later this month.

Should all go to plan, Philae will make a daring landing on the comet in November to get an up-close view of the activity as the comet flies close to the sun. You can read more details in this past Universe Today story.

Source: Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research

January 29, 2014December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

Rosetta Is Happily Awake, But Comet Lander Will Slumber Until March

Now that Rosetta has (leisurely) arose from a 31-month slumber in space, the next step is to figure out how prepared the spacecraft is for its close encounter with a comet. Early indications show that the orbiting spacecraft is ready to go. Its lander, Philae, is still asleep and the plan isn’t to wake it up until March, ESA added.

In the initial wake-up stage for Rosetta, “We were most concerned about power, and seeing if the solar arrays were generating sufficient electricity to support the planned recommissioning activities,” stated Andrea Accomazzo, spacecraft operations manager. “But even though we were still 673 million km [418 million miles] from the Sun , we were getting enough power and the arrays appear to have come through hibernation with no degradation.”

An artist concept of the Philae lander on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Credit: Astrium - E. Viktor/ESA — An artist concept of the Philae lander on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Credit: Astrium – E. Viktor/ESA

Other systems are happily coming online as planned. Three of the four reaction wheels, which control Rosetta’s position in space, are working perfectly (with the fourth expected to be reactivated in a few weeks.) Next up is making sure Rosetta’s memory storage is working well enough to shelve science and operations information, and pinning down the spacecraft’s orbit.

So Rosetta is doing well after 31 months. With that hurdle leapt, technicians will begin to think about waking up Philae and making sure that its 10 instruments are working. By February, you can follow updates regularly on the Rosetta blog (as well as on Universe Today, of course!)

Rosetta should reach Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August, and will start snapping pictures of the comet in May if all goes to plan. Astronomers are eager to see what the comet will teach us about the early years of the solar system, since comets are considered leftovers of when our neighborhood formed.

Source: ESA

December 30, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

Spider-Like Spacecraft Aims To Touch A Comet Next Year After Rosetta Reactivates

Artist's impression of Philae, the lander from the Rosetta spacecraft, descending to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in November 2014. Credit: ESA–J. Huart, 2013

Watch out, you comet, Rosetta is on its way with a probe. The European Space Agency spacecraft is preparing to wake up in January from a nearly three-year-long hibernation period to ready for a close encounter with Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.

If all goes well, Rosetta should reach its destination in August and — after a couple of months in a mapping orbit — comes another exciting bit: the probe will deploy a spider-like lander called Philae on the surface in November. That will be the first time anything has soft-landed on a comet.

Philae has a ream of scientific instruments on board, most notably a drill that can penetrate as far as 20 centimeters (eight inches) into whatever lies below it. It can then pick up the samples and analyze them right on sight. This will allow the lander to learn more about what the comet’s surface and subsurface are made of, ESA says, and to figure out how its nucleus is constructed. (You can read more technical details here.)

A big concern, of course, is keeping Philae anchored on the low gravity of the comet (as was covered extensively in this past Universe Today story).

“As Philae touches down on the comet, two harpoons will anchor it to the surface; the self-adjusting landing gear will ensure that it stays upright, even on a slope, and then the lander’s feet will drill into the ground to secure it to the comet’s surface in the low gravity environment,” ESA wrote.

Artist's impression of the Rosetta spacecraft releasing its lander, Philae, above the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in November 2014. Credit: ESA–C. Carreau/ATG medialab — Artist’s impression of the Rosetta spacecraft releasing its lander, Philae, above the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in November 2014. Credit: ESA–C. Carreau/ATG medialab

But first comes Rosetta’s reactivation. ESA is so excited about this forthcoming milestone on Jan. 20 that it’s inviting the public to send in videos where people tell the spacecraft, essentially, to wake up after 31 months of hibernation. (The campaign is called “Wake Up, Rosetta”, and more contest details are here.)

What’s cute is that the official Rosetta Twitter account (@ESA_Rosetta) will become more exciting then as well. The last update, from Dec. 3, simply says “still sleeping” (as most of the updates do.) In response to someone asking the account to write something else this summer, the Twitter response was laconic: “A sleeping probe cannot tweet.”

But keep your eyes peeled even after the landing. Rosetta plans to stay with the comet as the icy body moves closer to the solar system, watching as the sun’s heat changes its surface. Read more about the mission here.