The European Space Agency (ESA) said the probe may have’Philae` seated in soft material and not be sure the surface of the comet 67 / P Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which now posed for, for months, studying one celestial body .
Speaking to reporters in Darmstadt, Germany Stephan Ulamec, manager of ‘Philae’, the first spacecraft in history to land on the surface of a comet, said there have been no signs of firing harpoon seeks to hold the probe to the comet nucleus.
“It could mean that we are based in soft material and are not securely anchored” in the comet area, explained Stephan Ulamec, noting that there is still realize where and how that “actually landed” questions that should be answered within “a few hours”.
Soon after the probe Philae to land successfully on the surface of the comet ’67 / P Churyumov-Gerasimenko ‘, ESA announced social network Twitter that the analysis of telemetry data indicated that “the harpoons not fired, as first believed”, and the team that accompanied the landing path of the robot ‘Philae’ admitted other “options for upgrading” harpoons.
The probe landed at 16:02, according to the control center operations of ESA, located in Darmstadt, Germany.
The ‘Philae’ is the first spacecraft in history to land on the surface of a comet, which some experts compare in terms of scientific and technical importance to the arrival on the moon or the Japanese mission Hayabusa, who in 2005 inspected the surface of an asteroid complexity.
The robot ‘Philae ‘separated from the spacecraft’ Rosetta ‘, which traveled engaged for 10 years at 9:03 pm today and landed as planned, seven hours later.
The’ Rosetta ‘arrived in August near the ’67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko’, after a 10-year journey across the solar system to study its origin at a time when the comet is not yet active, without projecting any material forming the traditional “tail” because it is located at a distance of 450 million kilometers from the sun.
The “landing” the ‘Philae’, which represents a real technological challenge, occurred in a designated area ‘Agilkia’, situated on one side of the comet where sunlight, energy that will feed the little robot arrives.
The mission of the robot ‘Philae’ is to measure the magnetic field of the comet and conduct tests, up to 30 inches deep, the surface materials in phase of maximum activity, while it approaches the sun.
The ESA wants to study the comet’s tail, find out the water that celestial body has and see if the fluid is like the Earth, as well as analyze the existence of complex molecules
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