Ten years ago on March 2nd 2004, when the iPhones didn’t exist and Facebook was just -24 days old, the European Space Agency (ESA) launched Rosetta Spacecraft along with its washing machine sized lander module Philae, bound to comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P).

 

Little did we expect that this voyage would be historic! On August 6th 2014 after travelling 6 billion km for 10 years, the Rosetta Spacecraft reached the icy ducked-shaped 4 km Comet 67P and started looking for suitable landing sites for its lander, Philae. The craft became the first Spacecraft to orbit a comet! Philae detached from Rosetta on 12 November 2014 at 08:35 UTC and landed at 15: 33 UTC. This historic landing has earned itself the title of THE FIRST MISSION TO LAND A SPACE PROBE ON A COMET. This notable and momentous event has brought tears of joy to all the 2000 people who helped this sci-fi dream become a reality for the history of space exploration. This is a major leap for ESA.

 

The Rosetta-Philae mission is aimed and designed to uncover the answers about the formation of the Solar System, the origins of water on Earth and perhaps even life itself.

 

Between its 10 year and 6 billion km journey to Comet 67P, it had experienced numerous flybys and deep space manoeuvres. It had its first flyby of Earth in March 2005 and in February 2007 it had a near flyby of Mars up to 250km from the red planet’s surface. In November 2009, it had its second flyby of Earth giving it the boost to catch up to the comet that was travelling at 34000 miles per hour. Rosetta entered orbit of the comet in Aug 2014. However when Philae was released from its mother ship, the probe didn’t land in the targeted area because it bounced twice without firing its harpoons. Philae finally came to rest at 17:33 UTC.

 

After the probe landed, it commenced its science mission. It drilled through the comet’s surface and looked for precursors of life or clues to the formation of our Solar System. So far, the Philae lander has detected organic molecules on the surface of its comet and scientists have confirmed that the readings are accurate.

 

But things aren’t on the bright side for Philae, literally! The Philae has landed in a shadow, so light is not able to reach its solar panels to produce power. The probe has run out of power, after a successful last-ditch attempt to nudge it into better sunlight apparently came too late to charge its batteries and keep systems up and running. The lander had a successful shifting position but ESA announced that Philae would have to use its last energy to send a burst of data to Earth. Now the lander is in hibernation.

 

It’s not over yet! Scientists believe by Spring-Summer 2015, the probe would have gained enough energy to reboot as Comet 67P is approaching closer to the sun and there will be more sunlight.

 

Then again, this has been a big step in space exploration. We have received mind blowing information from the probe and there is still more to come from Rosetta….. And hopefully from Philae too.

 

“Cross your fingers, or press your thumbs if you are a German, that we hear something from the lander again.”