Goodnight, sweet lander.聽The European Space Agency is shutting down communications with the Philae lander, which crash-landed on comet 67P/Churyumov鈥揋erasimenko聽in 2014.
鈥淚t鈥檚 time for me to say goodbye,鈥� the today. 鈥淭omorrow, the unit on @ESA_Rosetta for communication with me will be switched off forever鈥︹��
Advertisement
Philae arrived at comet 67P on board the Rosetta orbiter, which has been sending back stunning images of the odd-shaped comet ever since, as well as data on its composition and even its scent.
The lander鈥檚 original mission was to latch onto聽the comet with a grappling hook. But a problem with its on-board harpoon meant that it failed to get a good grip, and bounced across the surface before coming to rest in a shady area. That meant it couldn鈥檛 get enough sunlight on its solar panels to stay alive as the comet moved away from聽the sun. In January of this year, the ESA team officially declared it dead.
End of the line
But the lander did manage to do some science in its brief life: it showed that 67P has almost no magnetic field, its surface is fluffy, and it contains .
The decision to turn off communications with Philae was probably driven by the fast-approaching end of Rosetta鈥檚 mission. Starting in the next month or so, the orbiter will spiral closer and closer to the comet, sending back ever-sharper images. On 30 September,聽it will join聽Philae on the surface in a spectacular crash-landing.
You will have a chance to pay your respects, however: the Rosetta team is asking for fans to share聽 on social media with the hashtag #GoodbyePhilae by 8 August.
