Philae lander makes historic touchdown on comet

Philae is a robotic European Space Agency lander that accompanied the Rosetta spacecraft until its designated landing on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P), more than ten years after departing Earth.  On 12 November 2014, the lander achieved the first-ever controlled touchdown on a comet nucleus. Its instruments are expected to obtain the first images from a comet’s surface and make the first in situ analysis to determine its composition.Philae is tracked and operated from the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) at Darmstadt, Germany.

After a historic but awkward comet landing, the robot probe Philae is now stable and sending pictures – but there are concerns about the battery life.

Satellite ESA Rosetta Philae brings to 10 years, 6.4 billion kilometers (4 billion miles) journey to the 67P / Churyumov–Gerasimenko, which reached its peak on Wednesday comet.

After viewing an image that shows the position of Philae – the other side of a large crater that was considered but rejected as a landing place – the team leader Dr. Stefan landing Ulamec said: “We could be somewhere in the rim of this crater, which could explain this bizarre… orientation that you have seen.”

Figuring out the orientation and location is a difficult task, he said.

“I can’t really give you much more than you interpret yourself from looking at these beautiful images.”