EN - Rosetta Mission Wrap Up: “Hollywood is good but Rosetta is better !”, says David PARKER, Director UK Space Agency, and “They made the miracle possible. Glory!’, Klim Churyumov, comet co-discoverer adds - 20.11.2014 - ESA - European Space Agency. The first ever landing on a comet was filled with suspense, surprises and drama. Almost seven hours after the Philae lander separated from the Rosetta orbiter, mission control finally received the signal it had been waiting for. Andrea ACCOMAZZO, Rosetta Flight Director, ESA: “We can’t be happier than what we are now. We can definitely confirm that the lander is on the surface.” Stephan ULAMEC, Philae lander manager, DLR: “So we are there and Philae is talking to us. The first thing he told is that the harpoons have been fired, rewound and the landing gear has been moved inside. So we are sitting on the surface. Philae is talking to us. More data to come.” James GREEN, Head of Planetary Science, NASA: How audacious, how exciting, how unbelievable to be able to dare to land on a comet!” Jean-Jacques DORDAIN, Director General, ESA: “We are the first to have done that and that will stay for ever.” David PARKER, Director UK Space Agency: “Hollywood is good but Rosetta is better.” Then the surprises began. The harpoons had not, in fact, fired and the lander had made not one – or two – but three touchdowns. Several on board instruments, together with sensors in the landing gear, confirmed the location of the first touchdown as planned within site J – or Agilkia. Without the harpoons to secure it down, Philae then rebounded slowly from the surface, at 38 cms per second. Over the next one hour and fifty minutes, it travelled about one kilometre before landing again. It then made a small hop, for seven minutes at around 3 cms per second, before stopping at its third and final destination in the shadow of a cliff. The CONSERT instrument helped pin down a possible location for the lander – from its first landing area shown in pink - to its second and third touchdowns in the blue region. The NAVCAM has now confirmed that what was first thought to be a dust cloud shadow, was in fact the Philae lander – together with its shadow. Before the landing, we had a combination of imagination and animation to picture the surface of a comet. This is the real deal – the first image from a comet’s surface. And the first panorama too - taken by the CIVA imaging system - and including the lander’s feet. The 10 instruments on the lander all need power to operate. But the unexpected new landing position receives less sunlight – only one and a half hours a day compared with seven from Agilkia. Fortunately the instruments could perform their science – including drilling - and, after nearly 57 hours and a race against time to return the data to Earth, the lander completed its primary science mission. Against all the odds, the landing was a success. Philae is now in hibernation and Rosetta is back in orbit around the comet. The orbiter will continue to study the comet until December 2015 – including the comet’s closest encounter with the Sun in August. For Mr Churyumov it was a chance to thank some of the team who helped the first ever spacecraft land on the comet he co-discovered in 1969. Klim CHURYUMOV, comet co-discoverer: “They made the miracle possible. Glory!’ Organic molecules have already been detected at the comet. And thanks to the Rosetta mission, we are one step closer to discovering more about the origins of our planet and the emergence of water and life on Earth. © Frédérick Moulin 2014 - ESA2014 - All rights reserved.
Posted on: Fri, 21 Nov 2014 08:44:55 +0000
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