On Wednesday, the European Space Agency (ESA) revealed that it has shut off the communication link with Philae, the comet lander, which had landed on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on Nov. 12, 2014.
The ESS (Electrical Support System) Processor Unit on Rosetta, which was used to establish communication link between Philae and Rosetta was switched off at 10 am BST on July 27.
The groundbreaking Rosetta mission Philae was the first man-made object to land on any comet. It landed on the comet following a 10-year-long journey. While landing, the harpoon system of Philae failed, and it “hopped” a number of times on the surface before finally landing in an unknown location at 67P.
During its stay on the comet, Philae made some intermittent contacts with Rosetta, the spacecraft currently orbiting the comet, and whose mission will officially complete on Sept. 30. ESA scientists conducted over 60 hours of research with scientific instruments on board Philae.
Some organic molecules were found on the surface of the comet using Philae’s mass spectrometer. The physical properties of the surface were also determined using Sesame seismometer and Mupus thermal probe. Scientists were also able to examine the nucleus and structure of the comet using radio signals sent from Philae to Rosetta. Although Philae sent some high-resolution images of Comet 67P, it could not send enough scientific data to ESA due to communication problems.
Last contact with Philae was made on July 9, 2015. ESA had kept the communication link on in hope of receiving signal from Philae. In January, ESA classified the lander as in “a state of eternal hibernation.”
“It’s cold & dark on #67P & chances of communicating with @ESA_Rosetta are decreasing, but I won’t give up just yet.” Philae tweeted a month later.
By the end of the July, Rosetta was about 520 million km from the Sun and experiencing a significant loss of power. The mission took the decision to power down the ESS to minimize energy use by non-essential instruments and enable mission’s scientific operations for as long as possible.
“He didn’t just land on a comet, he also told the world about it as he did it – another first! He reported the landing, step by step, in real time, making everyone a part of his mission. His landing tweet ‘Touchdown! My new address: 67P’ was retweeted more than 36,000 times, and he has 448,000 followers on Twitter,” ESA spokesman Fabian Walker wrote in a blog post.
“It’s time for me to say goodbye. Tomorrow, the unit on @ESA_Rosetta for communication with me will be switched off forever…” Philae mission team “tweeted” on Wednesday.
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