Race against time for comet mission
SCIENTISTS are working against the clock to carry out a series of experiments before a space probe 300million miles away runs out of power.
After a 13-mile drop from its mothership Rosetta, which carried it for a decade across the solar system, the Philae probe landed with pinpoint accuracy on the 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet.
But its landing thrusters broke down and the harpoons designed to secure it to the surface failed to fire. Philae bounced off the comet, floating more than 3,000 feet into space before drifting back to the surface. Spinning, it bounced a second time, before coming to rest in the crater. Miraculously, the machine –which is the size of a dishwasher – landed almost upright. But shadows from the crater are covering most of its solar panels, leaving it with dwindling battery life.
If the solar panels are not able to recharge, then the back-up battery system on the lander is expected to go into hibernation at some point tomorrow.
The team at the European Space Agency in Germany is now racing to conduct as many experiments as possible before the 60hour battery life fails. The main aim of the £ 1billion project, which has been 20 years in the planning, is to analyse the comet’s composition. Within hours of landing, the probe had already sent back remarkable pictures of the rocky landscape.
Stefano Mottola, the scientist in charge of processing the pictures, said: ‘The images provide a wealth of data that will keep us busy for some time to come.’
But to truly be classed a success and crack some of the solar system’s oldest secrets, the machine will have to drill a sample from the comet’s icy surface.
The lander will probably carry out the drilling today, and will hopefully have enough battery power left to analyse the samples in its on-board laboratory.
Jean-Pierre Bibring, the mission’s lead scientist, said last night: ‘We are in shadow permanently, which is a problem. We are running against the clock.’