Phil's spacecraft, located on a comet, contacted Rosetta

Phil's spacecraft, located on a comet, contacted Rosetta

For the team of European specialists watching Phila's descent vehicle on a comet, the week began with good news: the fearless robot resumed its signaling on the Rosette spacecraft in orbit.

After seven months of hibernation, Phil, a non-scheduled comet landing in a darkened area in November, came to life and sent signals on June 13 and 14. That inspired scientists to a new stage of experiments. The troubles ended, although this was a surprise for the mission specialists. Since Rosetta was busy with her own scientific program.

“We received new status information,” says Michael Maybaum, deputy operating manager of the German space agency Lander Center.

“At the moment, the landing module is operating at a temperature of zero degrees Celsius, which means that the batteries are comfortable now and they save energy. This allows Fide to work on a comet at night, even without sunlight, ”he says. An analysis of the previous transmissions of Fila shows that the amount of sunlight falling on the module increased.

“Phil does everything very well,” said Maybaum.

The first attempt to move Fila was carried out in May, but then he could not get on the radio.

At the moment, the Rosetta orbit is being adjusted to have a clearer radio connection with Phila. As soon as this happens, the boarding module will proceed with further work.

Phil, together with the Rosette spacecraft, flew up to comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko, after which he separated and engaged in an independent mission. But he failed to land successfully, the 220-pound probe moved several times on the surface until it was fixed to a sheer cliff. After which he made a series of 64 hour experiments before his batteries sat down.

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