The Philae lander on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (Chury) some 311 million miles away, to protect its batteries, has gone silent. Now, the explorers get to study all of the incredible data they have collected. The data includes scientific tests, and photographs. The lander drilled a hole in the comet, at one point, and much of the data includes information regarding the sample pulled for analysis.
The lander was rotated so that it could use sunlight to recharge its batteries while it lies dormant. If the rotation to get the lander out of a shadow was successful, it may still be weeks, or months, before it resumes sending a signal. According to the European Space Agency, everything is going as planned, for the most part. There was a hitch when the landing was attempted, and the pair of anchoring harpoons did not deploy. The third bounce was a charm, leaving the vessel in the shadow of a cliff, angled so that one leg pointed at the sky. The shadow meant that all work was going to have to be accomplished on battery. . . with just enough juice to achieve the minimal tests.
The charge may never be enough to operate the lander again, though more data signals could be coming in the future. The comet is heading toward the Sun, and will swing around Earth's personal star next year. Reports from the data is expected next month. Rosetta will accompany the comet around the sun, until the comet heads back out to deep space.
The Philae lander came from the Rosetta vessel that rendezvoused with the comet last August.
The drilling into the dusty and icy surface of the comet may not have been successful, but if it was, the data from the sample is the most long awaited of all of the data. Scientists call the data that we may receive from the sample removed from the comet from the drilling a "game-changer."
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