‘Philae’ exhausted their batteries in an intense comet – Newspaper

Saturday, November 15, 2014

Composition with almost imperceptible by the black hole in the center, about to land on the comet ‘Philae’ robot. He rebounded.

Technicians European (ESA) Space Agency began yesterday to work in full swing at handling module Philae , which on Wednesday landed on the comet’s surface 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko , in anticipation of its operative capacity have the hours counted. Philae is in a shady spot that receives only half an hour daily light enough for solar panels can recharge Battery feed all equipment and scientific instruments.

Once landed, after freeing the probe Rosetta and down for seven hours until the comet, Philae had guaranteed 64 hours of work thanks to its battery, so your life should theoretically concluded early this morning.

At least, it was clear yesterday is that the module was active and in good condition although in an inclined position, with only two of its three legs anchored to the ground. Technical ordered the module to deploy and nailed on the floor robotic arm MUPUS , which must be used to meet the thermal and mechanical properties of the soil, and also launched the APXS spectrometer .

Because two rebounds during the landing operation, Philae possibly over a mile away from the site originally chosen to perch, called the J point where other light was ensured. The seven microcameras CIVA instrument, taking panoramic photos, invariably show rocks, suggesting that Philae is on a cliff or at least a kind of hollow where sunlight barely.

A PIXEL IN IMMENSITY

Rosetta , the mother ship, he was yesterday 50 miles from the comet’s surface, a very large distance that it was simply the location of an object from just one cubic meter. Drop In photos captured by the Osiris camera ship, for example, Philae was a white pixel in the darkness. As the ESA team does not know exactly where it is Philae, attempting to move could backfire. The 100 kilos of weight on Earth is equivalent to a few grams in the surface of Chury tiny -due to gravity exerted by the comet and that means that there was a clear risk that shoot out before any momentum.

For the same reason, the technicians of the mission were reluctant to implement the hammer drill SD2 , with capacity to drill up to 23 inches and sampling. If not working the drill, neither could use the instruments COSAC and Ptolemy , designed to analyze the molecular and isotopic sample composition (with the main goal of finding compounds organic).

However, in anticipation of the mission concluded prematurely, technicians finally decided to use the drill. It was a desperate move because, even at the risk of destabilizing the module, make the hole and subsequent analysis was to consume 80 100 watt hours which still calculates the battery’s remaining. Including the risk that no energy to send the results to Rosetta is running. It was expected that the results, if any, were known early this morning.