On this day in space! Nov. 12, 2014: European Philae probe lands on Comet 67P, bounced twice and then got lost for nearly 2 years
The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft captured these photos of the Philae lander descending toward, and then bouncing off, the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko during its historic touchdown on Nov.
Key points
- The Rosetta orbiter continued to orbit Comet 67P until September 2016, and it was in that month -- just weeks before Rosetta itself landed on the comet on Sept.
- Philae actually landed three different times on Comet 67/P, all because the harpoons designed to secure it in place didn't fire as planned.
- It was supposed to use harpoons to secure itself on to the surface of Comet 67P, but the harpoons never fired.
After the first landing, Philae bounced up and drifted around the comet for two hours, making another bounce before Rosetta's cameras lost track of it.
The European Space Agency's Philae lander separated from an orbiter called Rosetta ahead of its historic landing in 2014.
Additional details
- Check out our full On This Day In Space Story archive and watch our On This Day In Space videos on YouTube.
- That allowed Philae to perform some science with its 10 instruments in the time it had on Comet 67/P.
- Because it was solar-powered, Philae needed to be facing the sun properly to generate enough power for sustained operation on the comet's surface.
- Images from Rosetta showed Philae stuck in a dark crevice on top of the rubber duck-shaped comet.
- Most notably, Philae found organic molecules that had never been detected on a comet before.
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