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Philae's Batteries Have Drained; Comet Lander Sleeps

Posted by timothy on from the amazing-feats-done-dirt-dirt-cheap dept.

astroengine (1577233) writes "In the final hours, Philae's science team hurried to squeeze as much science out of the small lander as possible. But the deep sleep was inevitable, Rosetta's lander has slipped into hibernation after running its batteries dry. This may be the end of Philae's short and trailblazing mission on the surface of Comet 67P, but a huge amount of data — including data from a drilling operation that, apparently, was carried out despite concerns that Philae wasn't positioned correctly — was streamed to Rosetta mission control. "Prior to falling silent, the lander was able to transmit all science data gathered during the First Science Sequence," said Stephan Ulamec, Philae Lander Manager. "This machine performed magnificently under tough conditions, and we can be fully proud of the incredible scientific success Philae has delivered.""

6 of 337 comments (clear)

  1. We may hear from Philae later by AbrasiveCat · · Score: 4, Interesting

    While the main battery is nearly depleted and at this point there is not enough solar power striking the solar panels to boot it back up, as the comet approaches the sun the light intensity should go up. We can hope that the existing conditions provide enough power to prevent damage to the landers electronics. Then as the comet approaches the sun and the comet either changes origination to provide more light or just Philae get more intense light it may rise again. That would be grand!

    1. Re:We may hear from Philae later by Zordak · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Of course, the comet will also start shooting off monster steam blasts, which could easily blast Philae off at escape velocity. The next Twitter update from Philae could be "I'm Lost in Space!"

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  2. Re: Sad by troon · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Hey, it landed, did its science and lasted longer than the Soviet Venera landers on Venus, which were a resounding success â" lens caps asideâ¦

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  3. Re:Fair-weather power sources are lame... by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Unfortunately we're pretty much out of Pu238. The US just started in 2013 to make it again, but only at 1.5Kg a year. Curiosity used around 4kg of it, so it would take at least 2-4 years to make enough for a single probe. We used to buy decommissioned nukes from Russia and reprocess it, but now a) Putin hates us and b) they too are pretty much out of decommissioned nuclear material to even sell. Maybe by 2017 the USA might have enough to make a single RTG for a deep space mission.

  4. Re:Fair-weather power sources are lame... by itzly · · Score: 3, Interesting

    You must be joking. For the price of a manned mission, we could send 100 robotic probes. Surely, one of those will land correctly. For added science benefit, we could send those probes to 10 different comets.

  5. Re:ESA's spectacular rash of achieving failures by umghhh · · Score: 4, Interesting

    the statements about dead of the lander are slightly exaggerated. It may still wake up. What was the last time when your project delivered all you started it for, did it on time and possibly (as we do not know it yet) did not reach goals on ambition level? I would like project that I work on be as good as this one. But than I have the biggest evil in the whole universe to fight against: bean counters.