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Is comet probe doomed?
In just over 50 years of space exploration humanity has landed spacecraft on Venus, the moon, Mars, Saturn\'s moon, Titan, and two asteroids. Now a new object can be added to that list: a comet.
First picture from surface shows Philae has landed on its side in a cave and without solar power it will die in 30 hours
- Scientists are facing a race against time to keep the Philae probe operational on the surface of the comet
- It has been confirmed that the probe is stuck in a cave on the comet and it may also be on its side
- This means it may be receiving too little sunlight to recharge its batteries, which only have 20-30 hours of power
In just over 50 years of space exploration humanity has landed spacecraft on Venus, the moon, Mars, Saturn's moon, Titan, and two asteroids. Now a new object can be added to that list: a comet.
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But Esa scientists are concerned about the future of Philae after it was revealed that the probe is likely stuck in a cave on the surface of the comet - and it may also be lying on its side. With limited access to sunlight, and only a maximum of 30 hours of charge in its battery, scientists now face a race against time to get useful data from the probe before it dies - or find a way to recharge its solar panels and keep Philae alive.
“If you look at the images we have at the moment, it looks like Philae is resting against a very irregular rock”, mission director Paolo Ferri told MailOnline. “There is some speculation about it being in a hole…honestly, we have no idea, because we haven’t seen all the images”.
“But what is more important is the attitude [angle] of the lander, and the clock is ticking for us to find this out”, he said. In a press conference in french Esa also added: 'We are in a kind of cave, not a very flat area.' And they said that the probe has access to 90 minutes of sunlight every 12 hours - which might be enough to keep it alive.
According to Philippe Gaudon, who heads the Rosetta mission at the French space agency CNES, the probe is thought to be at an angle of about 30 degrees on the surface. Eight of the ten instruments on board the spacecraft have also apparently taken data so far, but the solar panels seem to have been damaged during the dramatic landing.
The probe landed on the comet at around 3.30pm GMT on Wednesday but then bounced twice, first to a height of 0.62 miles (1km) and then to a much lower height before coming to rest. It is also thought to be about 0.62 miles (1km) from its intended landing site. Esa confirmed in a statement that after the bounces the probe rotated around its vertical axis, which means it is now not upright on the comet.
This means that parts of the lander are in shadow but, they added: 'Nonetheless, the lander appears to be performing well.'Philae only has around 20-30 hours of battery life in its main battery, before it will attempt to switch to rechargeable ones replenished by sunlight. If it cannot get enough sunlight it will ultimately run out of power in at most 60 hours.
Ferri says that all of the non-mechanical instruments on Philae are now working perfectly, but scientists will not be attempting to start up any of the mechanical instruments. “If we move something it might tip it over…once we know the attitude [angle], we will know what instruments we can use.” Earlier data had also suggested that only some of the solar panels on Philae were getting sunlight, which seems to have been confirmed by the amount of shadow in the picture. The reason for the shadow could be that Philae is not upright or that it is in a hole.
Speaking to MailOnline Mark Bentley, the Principal Investigator on Rosetta's Midas instrument, said earlier: ‘There is a chance it is on its side, but a good radio link suggests it is the right way up.’ He continued: 'From what we’ve heard overnight it seems there is a suspicion yesterday that there was some bouncing involved. Two instruments have confirmed Philae appears to have touched down followed by two subsequent touchdowns effectively’. “So the fact we’re now getting data back from the orbiter looks good, it suggests the lander is stable on the surface. But we don’t know what the state is yet, how it’s sitting, what its orientation is. These are important things that need to be figured out”.
