By Victoria Bryan
BERLIN (Reuters) – The mission of the first PROBE (SONDA.CHL) (SONDA.CHL) robot that landed on a comet reached a milestone Friday when the spacecraft radioed to Earth to inform you drilled successfully body of the comet.
Scientists Rosetta mission of the European Space Agency (ESA, for its acronym in English) did not know if the small probe that landed on the comet on Wednesday would have enough power in your battery make the call and transmit its findings to Earth, 500 million miles away.
The Rosetta probe named Philae, failed anchored as planned on the body of the comet, which made it bounced and landed a mile away from its original target.
Photographs and other data subsequently transmitted by Philae indicate that the probe is trapped in a twilight zone, suggesting that ended in a cliff or inside a crater. With decreasing battery power, scientists sent commands to Philae to attempt to use your drill to obtain samples of the comet’s body.
Those results are still pending, but Friday Philae made a late call radio through their mothership Rosetta, reporting that the drill operated successfully.
“The first hole in a comet in fact!” published ESA on the social networking site Twitter on Friday night.
The scientists also decided to try to reposition the probe so that its solar panels could recharge.
“I started to get up a bit and Rotare now trying to optimize solar energy “, ESA published in the Twitter account of Philae probe.
One of the most important tasks of the sensor is 100 kilograms obtain samples from within the kite for analysis chemicals.
It is believed that comets are pure leftovers from the formation of our solar system 4,600 million years ago. They contain rock and ice that have preserved ancient organic molecules as a time capsule and could provide insights into the evolution of planets and life.
The Philae drill down more than 25 inches on Friday, penetrating the comet’s surface.
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