SPACE.com :
For the first time in history, a spacecraft from Earth has landed on the face of a comet speeding through deep space.
The European Space Agency’s Philae lander on the Rosetta spacecraft made its nail-biting, history-making touchdown on the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko today (Nov. 12) and quickly fired its harpoons into the icy target to anchor itself on the strange landscape. The landing ended what some scientists had dubbed “seven hours of terror” – the time it took for Philae to descend from Rosetta as the spacecraft and comet flew through space about 317 million miles (510 million kilometers) from Earth.
People started hugging, cheering and celebrating as soon as mission controllers got confirmation that the lander successfully touched down on the surface of the comet. ESA officials confirmed that the spacecraft made its soft landing on the comet at a little bit after 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT) today. [See images from the Rosetta mission]
“We see the lander sitting on the road,” Andrea Accomazzo, Rosetta flight director said just after landing was confirmed. “We’ve definitely confirmed that the lander is on the surface.”
The Rosetta mission is charged with helping scientists learn more about comets, mysterious, icy wanders that are left over from the dawn of
the solar system billions of years ago. Some research also suggests that comets could be responsible for bringing water to Earth early in the planet’s history.
Philae’s 10 instruments will monitor Comet 67P/C-G from the surface as Rosetta orbits the comet, investigating it from above.
Scientists hope that Philae will continue to collect data about the comet until at least March 2015. The two probes should be able to observe some changes to the comet as it flies closer to the sun. Rosetta is expected to remain with Comet 67P/C-G through December 2015, after it makes its closest flyby to the sun in August 2015.
“Comet impacts are thought to have been one of the principal means by which water was delivered to the early Earth, around 3.6 billion years ago, possibly contributing half the water in our oceans,” planetary scientist Stanley Cowley, of the University of Leicester in England, said in a statement.
Philae started its difficult descent to the comet’s surface at 3:35 a.m. EST (0835 GMT).
For the first time in history, a spacecraft from Earth has landed on the face of a comet speeding through deep space.
The European Space Agency’s Philae lander on the Rosetta spacecraft made its nail-biting, history-making touchdown on the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko today (Nov. 12) and quickly fired its harpoons into the icy target to anchor itself on the strange landscape. The landing ended what some scientists had dubbed “seven hours of terror” – the time it took for Philae to descend from Rosetta as the spacecraft and comet flew through space about 317 million miles (510 million kilometers) from Earth.
People started hugging, cheering and celebrating as soon as mission controllers got confirmation that the lander successfully touched down on the surface of the comet. ESA officials confirmed that the spacecraft made its soft landing on the comet at a little bit after 11 a.m. EST (1600 GMT) today. [See images from the Rosetta mission]
“We see the lander sitting on the road,” Andrea Accomazzo, Rosetta flight director said just after landing was confirmed. “We’ve definitely confirmed that the lander is on the surface.”
The Rosetta mission is charged with helping scientists learn more about comets, mysterious, icy wanders that are left over from the dawn of
the solar system billions of years ago. Some research also suggests that comets could be responsible for bringing water to Earth early in the planet’s history.
Philae’s 10 instruments will monitor Comet 67P/C-G from the surface as Rosetta orbits the comet, investigating it from above.
Scientists hope that Philae will continue to collect data about the comet until at least March 2015. The two probes should be able to observe some changes to the comet as it flies closer to the sun. Rosetta is expected to remain with Comet 67P/C-G through December 2015, after it makes its closest flyby to the sun in August 2015.
“Comet impacts are thought to have been one of the principal means by which water was delivered to the early Earth, around 3.6 billion years ago, possibly contributing half the water in our oceans,” planetary scientist Stanley Cowley, of the University of Leicester in England, said in a statement.
Philae started its difficult descent to the comet’s surface at 3:35 a.m. EST (0835 GMT).
