{"id":19256,"date":"2016-09-05T21:50:50","date_gmt":"2016-09-05T13:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/philae-found-at-last-rosetta-probe-spots-lost-lander-stuck-in-a-comets-crack\/"},"modified":"2016-09-05T21:50:50","modified_gmt":"2016-09-05T13:50:50","slug":"philae-found-at-last-rosetta-probe-spots-lost-lander-stuck-in-a-comets-crack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/philae-found-at-last-rosetta-probe-spots-lost-lander-stuck-in-a-comets-crack\/","title":{"rendered":"Philae found at last! Rosetta probe spots lost lander stuck in a comet\u2019s crack"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Philae
An extreme close-up of the Philae lander shows components of the 3-foot-wide spacecraft from a distance of 1.7 miles. (Credit: ESA \/ Rosetta \/ MPS for OSIRIS Team \/ UPD \/ LAM \/ IAA \/ SSO \/ INTA \/ UPM \/ DASP \/ IDA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

After almost two years\u2019 of searching, the European Space Agency\u2019s Rosetta spacecraft has shown scientists what happened to the Philae lander when it bounced onto the surface of a comet \u2013 and why it went out of contact.<\/p>\n

The answer to the mystery comes less than a month before the $1.4 billion Rosetta mission\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

Rosetta\u2019s OSIRIS camera spotted the boxy, 3-foot-wide Philae lander stuck in a dark crack on Comet 67\/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, more than 420 million miles from Earth.<\/p>\n

The comet has been the object of Rosetta\u2019s study since August 2014. Philae was pushed out from the main spacecraft and descended to the surface that November. The lander was supposed to beam up a stream of data about the comet\u2019s composition. It did provide three days\u2019 worth of data, but then the solar-powered probe fell silent.<\/p>\n

Rosetta\u2019s scientists determined that the lander had bounced on the surface, and spent months analyzing radio data and imagery from the main spacecraft in an attempt to figure out where it ended up. They assumed that Philae had fallen someplace dark where it couldn\u2019t recharge its batteries.<\/p>\n

\"A
A series of images shows the location of the Philae lander on Comet 67P\/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The red dot on the image at upper right shows the area covered by the higher-resolution image at left. The red box in that image shows the area covered by the close-up at lower right. Click on the image for a larger version. (Credit ESA \/ Rosetta \/ MPS for OSIRIS Team \/ UPD \/ LAM \/ IAA \/ SSO \/ INTA \/ UPM \/ DASP \/ IDA \/ NavCam)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Long-range pictures weren\u2019t sharp enough to show Philae. The lander did send out some brief radio transmissions in June and July of last year, but not enough to let scientists nail down its location. Finally, on Sept. 2, Rosetta solved the mystery \u2013 and the explanation turned out to be just as scientists guessed.<\/p>\n

In a picture taken on Sept. 2 from a distance of 1.7 miles, the lander shows up clearly, wedged in a crevice in a region known as Abydos. The picture shows two of the spacecraft\u2019s three landing legs extended toward the rugged sides of the crevice.<\/p>\n

The key to the discovery was that Rosetta is circling closer to the comet in preparation for its final data-gathering descent on Sept. 30, which will end with its own crash onto the surface.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith only a month left of the Rosetta mission, we are so happy to have finally imaged Philae, and to see it in such amazing detail,\u201d OSIRIS team member Cecilia Tubiana said today in a news release. ESA says Tubiana was the first person to see the images when they were downlinked from Rosetta on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is incredible we have captured this at the final hour,\u201d said Patrick Martin, ESA\u2019s Rosetta mission manager.<\/p>\n