Rosetta Mission Update: Philae Location Unknown Until it Can Turn On, Possibly By June
ByRosetta mission managers have stopped trying to use the satellite to locate the Philae lander on Comet 67P some three months after its historic landing.
According to BBC News, the European Space Agency (ESA) will wait until Philae can catch sun rays with its solar panels to turn itself on. Despite being the first spacecraft to attach itself to a comet, Philae did not land in an optimal position.
The lander bounced and wound up under a cliff that blocked its panels from soaking up sun rays to charge itself. Shortly after its landing, Philae had to go into a hibernation mode and mission managers have been trying to locate it from above since.
In Dec., about a month after the landing, Rosetta mission managers reviewed images from the general vicinity of Philae's landing spot. The images unfortunately showed several "false" Philae landers.
"Actually, we've seen several Philaes," Stephan Ulamec, the lander manager at the German Space Agency, told BBC News. "And that's the problem: it's very difficult to distinguish Philae from surface features that resemble a little bit the shape of the lander."
"There is good confidence, and of course all the teams are getting prepared for various scenarios.
"It may be that they only get very limited periods of operation in the [dark] pocket, and they will have to plan for more modest science sequences."
Thanks to the nature of the Rosetta mission, Philae is bound to catch some rays eventually, as its purpose is to track the comet as it heads into the solar system. By May or June, the Washington Post reported, mission managers believe they will be able to turn Philae on.
Scientists believe that the probe's placement on the comet will also elongate its life by being sheltered from the sun's heat.