Scientists hopeful comet rider will wake once more
A year after European Space Agency’s Philae spacecraft landed on a comet, scientists are hoping to re-establish contact.
The European Space Agency made history by putting its Philae lander on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
The craft that bounced twice and then its batteries ran out of power, has continued to orbit the comet but both the lander and its mothership Rosetta are still sending back important scientific data.
The mission has found 16 organic compounds on the comet, some of which are considered to be the basic building blocks needed for life.
According to mission scientist Matt Taylor, Flying at different altitudes above the comet, Rosetta was able to study the gas and dust coming from it and found pure oxygen at unexpected levels in its thin atmosphere - something it was thought could not survive in that form in space.
Rosetta has also mapped the flow of water from inside the comet, which causes jets of vapor to burst from its surface, and it has been revealed that the comet was probably formed from the collision of two separate balls of ice.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Matt Taylor says in the next few weeks he hopes the team will be able to make contact with the Philea lander one final time.
ENDS/MM…..
The European Space Agency made history by putting its Philae lander on the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
The craft that bounced twice and then its batteries ran out of power, has continued to orbit the comet but both the lander and its mothership Rosetta are still sending back important scientific data.
The mission has found 16 organic compounds on the comet, some of which are considered to be the basic building blocks needed for life.
According to mission scientist Matt Taylor, Flying at different altitudes above the comet, Rosetta was able to study the gas and dust coming from it and found pure oxygen at unexpected levels in its thin atmosphere - something it was thought could not survive in that form in space.
Rosetta has also mapped the flow of water from inside the comet, which causes jets of vapor to burst from its surface, and it has been revealed that the comet was probably formed from the collision of two separate balls of ice.
In an exclusive interview with Al Jazeera, Matt Taylor says in the next few weeks he hopes the team will be able to make contact with the Philea lander one final time.
ENDS/MM…..