Philae Comet Lander Finally Found

ESA’s Rosetta orbiter has spotted Philae hidden in a dark crack on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Philae has been identified in Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera images taken on September 2, 2016 from a distance of 1.7 miles (2.7 km). Philae’s 3.3 foot (1 m) wide body and two of its three legs can be seen extended from the body. The images also provide proof of Philae’s orientation. A Rosetta navigation camera image taken on April 16, 2015 is shown at top right for context, with the approximate location of Philae on the small lobe of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko marked. Image credit: ESA / Rosetta / OSIRIS Team / MPS / UPD / LAM / IAA / SSO / INTA / UPM / DASP / IDA / NavCam / CC BY-SA IGO 3.0.

On November 12, 2014, Philae accomplished its spectacular comet landing, despite a harpoon system that did not function after the ten-year journey through space.

The lander endured multiple ‘hops’ on the surface of 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, and arrived at a final location that nobody on the Rosetta mission team had foreseen.

After three days, Philae’s primary battery was exhausted and the lander went into hibernation, only to wake up again and communicate briefly with Rosetta in June and July 2015. However, until today, the precise location was not known.

New images taken on September 2 by Rosetta’s OSIRIS (Optical, Spectroscopic, and Infrared Remote Imaging System) narrow-angle camera clearly show the main body of Philae, along with two of its three legs.

The images also provide proof of Philae’s orientation, making it clear why establishing communications was so difficult following its landing.

Close-up of the Philae comet lander, imaged by Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on September 2 from a distance of 1.7 miles (2.7 km). Several of the lander’s instruments are identified, including one of the CIVA panoramic imaging cameras, the SD2 drill and SESAME-DIM (Surface Electric Sounding and Acoustic Monitoring Experiment Dust Impact Monitor). Image credit: ESA / Rosetta / OSIRIS Team / MPS / UPD / LAM / IAA / SSO / INTA / UPM / DASP / IDA.

“With only a month left of the Rosetta mission, we are so happy to have finally imaged Philae, and to see it in such amazing detail,” said OSIRIS team member Dr. Cecilia Tubiana, of the Max-Planck-Institute for Solar System Research.

“After months of work, with the focus and the evidence pointing more and more to this lander candidate, I’m very excited and thrilled that we finally have this all-important picture of Philae sitting in Abydos,” added Dr. Laurence O’Rourke of ESA.

“This remarkable discovery comes at the end of a long, painstaking search,” said Dr. Patrick Martin, ESA’s Rosetta Mission Manager.

“We were beginning to think that Philae would remain lost forever. It is incredible we have captured this at the final hour.”

“This wonderful news means that we now have the missing ‘ground-truth’ information needed to put Philae’s three days of science into proper context, now that we know where that ground actually is,” said Rosetta project scientist Dr. Matt Taylor, also from ESA.

“Now that the lander search is finished we feel ready for Rosetta’s landing, and look forward to capturing even closer images of Rosetta’s touchdown site,” said OSIRIS Principal Investigator Dr. Holger Sierks, of the Max-Planck-Institute for Solar System Research.

The discovery comes less than a month before Rosetta descends to the comet’s surface.

On September 30, the orbiter will be sent on a final one-way mission to investigate the comet from close up, including the open pits in the Ma’at region, where it is hoped that critical observations will help to reveal secrets of the body’s interior structure.

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Philae Comet Lander Finally Found