Rosetta mission success - landed on comet
The European Space Agency made history in an ambitious attempt to land a spacecraft on the surface of a comet.
On 12 November 2014, Rosetta’s Philae probe has successfully made the first-ever landing on a comet, touching down on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
The lander separated from the orbiting module at 09:03 GMT, and descended to the comet's surface.
Philae's computer encountered minor technical problems while powering up in preparation for the descent, but these resolved themselves after turning it off and on again.
After Rosetta’s propulsive manoeuvre, Philae was released at 09:03 GMT at a distance of 22.5 kilometres, or 14 miles, from the centre of the comet. It takes the radio signals from the transmitter on Rosetta 28 minutes and 20 seconds to reach Earth, so separation actually occurred in space at 08:35 GMT.
It was equipped with a nitrogen-fuelled cold gas thruster, used to press the lander to the surface at landing, but Philae's cold gas thruster stopped working, increasing the difficulty of landing safely.
Once the lander reached the comet, it was supposed to fire and reel in two harpoons to stop it from bouncing away into space, but these harpoons failed to deploy. The lander also carries drills on its feet for securing it to the surface.
According to magnetic sensors, Philae actually landed three times, bouncing slowly in the low gravity, touching the surface at 15:33, 17:26 & 17:33.
The lander came to rest on its feet in a shadowy area, surrounded by rocks.
The lander team shifted the landing gear and turned the body to improve the position of the lander and capture more sunlight to extend the time available to collect data by charging the batteries in the sun.
Even as the batteries faded on Friday night more data streamed down from Philae, providing scientists with further clues to the nature of comets and to the history of the Solar System.
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Live_updates_Rosetta_missio...
Try building your own comet chasing spacecraft and learn more about the Universe with this activity sheet from the ESA:
Activity Book about the Solar System, including Rosetta model
