Philae Comet Lander May Not Send Back Data Anymore

Last year the European Space Agency sent a lander on Comet 67-P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko but the mission didn’t really go according to plan. The Philae comet lander suffered a rather bumpy landing and it first went quiet and then went into sleep marking the end of its communication with Earth. Seven months after that bumpy landing Philae did come back to life but it hasn’t really been an easy ride for the lander. It turns out that Philae may not send back data anymore.

The German Aerospace Center has reported that its last effort to make contact with Philae has gone without a response so far. It could be that the lander doesn’t have enough power or that the commands didn’t reach it at all.

“Contact opportunities” are likely to present themselves until January 21st, 2016 when the Rosetta spacecraft will fly to the comet’s southern hemisphere to collect and send back data. However, the German Aerospace Center is not hopeful that it will hear back from Philae before then.

The team running the Philae mission believe that it’s transmitters and receivers were damaged ever since it had that bumpy landing on the comet, and since it’s hooked in a perilous position, there just might be too much dust covering the lander for it to function properly.

If there’s no contact by the end of January then it just might be the end of the proverbial road for Philae since it’s probably going to be far enough from the Sun by that point, making it too cold for the lander to operate. The team now expects to get a close-up look at the fallen lander when Rosetta hopefully winds up its mission in September this year.

Adnan Farooqui
Categories: Robots
Tags: Space