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Philae comet landing

Philae comet landing6 posts

The Philae landing vehicle touched down on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on Nov. 12, 2014, more than 10 years after departing Earth. Philae and its spacecraft, Rosetta, are named after the obelisk and the stone that were used to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics. They are operated by the European Space Agency. The landing is the first time humans have landed a spacecraft on a comet. It is expected to supply important scientific data about what comets are made of, and whether they contributed to the formation of life on earth.

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14 Jun, 2015

Lander awakes

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After seven months Rosetta’s lander Philae comes out of hibernation, sending more than 300 packets over 85 seconds to ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt. Ulamec:

Philae is doing very well: It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24 Watts available. The lander is ready for operations. We have also received historical data – so far, however, the lander had not been able to contact us earlier.