Friday

29th Mar 2024

European probe lands on comet 500 million km from earth

A European robot probe has made the first ever landing on a comet, but its status is currently unclear after harpoons failed to anchor it to the surface.

The Philae lander, which was launched from the Rosetta spacecraft, touched down on the 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko comet on Wednesday (12 November).

Read and decide

Join EUobserver today

Get the EU news that really matters

Instant access to all articles — and 20 years of archives. 14-day free trial.

... or subscribe as a group

“We are on the comet,” landing manager Stephan Ulamec said from the European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany.

The signal that the Philae had landed on the comet, currently 500 million kilometers away, reached earth on Wednesday at 17:03, Brussels time. The probe took about seven hours after it was launched from Rosetta to touch down.

When the confirmation came - it took about half an hour to reach earth - there were cheers and hugs at the mission control in Darmstadt.

It is hoped data from the comet will shed light on how the solar system looked like 4.5 billion years ago. Scientists might also learn more about the theory that the earth's water could have originated from comets.

However, it is uncertain whether the Philae lander is standing firm on the surface of the comet, which has a gravity about 10,000 times weaker than earth. The harpoons which were supposed to lock the lander to the surface did not fire.

It is possible that the lander is moving and bounced on the surface. “Maybe today we didn’t just land once, we even landed twice”, Ulamec said.

The head of mission operations Paolo Ferri said it is unlikely that Philae will bounce off the comet, he told New Scientist. “Frankly, given it has been on the surface for a few hours now, I would be very surprised.”

But the landing is a big success for the European Space Agency, which launched Rosetta over ten years ago on 2 March 2004.

“A small jump for the robot. A giant jump for mankind”, said Roberto Battiston, president of the Italian Space Agency.

In a statement on Thursday (13 November) European commissioner Maros Sefcovic congratulated the European Space Agency. He called the landing a “great success, proving [the] high quality of European Space science & exploratory programmes”.

EU council president Herman Van Rompuy tweeted: “Not even the sky's the limit for European cooperation!”

Although the comet is currently about 500 kilometres from earth, the Rosetta spacecraft had to travel 6 billion kilometers to get there. It used the gravitational pull of earth and Mars to accelerate and finally arrive at the comet in August 2014.

The comet was discovered in 1969 by Ukrainian astronomer Klim Churyumov, who spotted it on a photographic plate taken by Svetlana Gerasimenko.

EU to investigate Galileo launch failure

The European Commission has set up an inquiry into the failure to correctly launch the latest two satellites of its ill-fated Galileo programme.

Opinion

EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania

Among the largest sources of financing for energy transition of central and eastern European countries, the €60bn Modernisation Fund remains far from the public eye. And perhaps that's one reason it is often used for financing fossil gas projects.

Latest News

  1. Kenyan traders react angrily to proposed EU clothes ban
  2. Lawyer suing Frontex takes aim at 'antagonistic' judges
  3. Orban's Fidesz faces low-polling jitters ahead of EU election
  4. German bank freezes account of Jewish peace group
  5. EU Modernisation Fund: an open door for fossil gas in Romania
  6. 'Swiftly dial back' interest rates, ECB told
  7. Moscow's terror attack, security and Gaza
  8. Why UK-EU defence and security deal may be difficult

Stakeholders' Highlights

  1. Nordic Council of MinistersJoin the Nordic Food Systems Takeover at COP28
  2. Nordic Council of MinistersHow women and men are affected differently by climate policy
  3. Nordic Council of MinistersArtist Jessie Kleemann at Nordic pavilion during UN climate summit COP28
  4. Nordic Council of MinistersCOP28: Gathering Nordic and global experts to put food and health on the agenda
  5. Friedrich Naumann FoundationPoems of Liberty – Call for Submission “Human Rights in Inhume War”: 250€ honorary fee for selected poems
  6. World BankWorld Bank report: How to create a future where the rewards of technology benefit all levels of society?

Join EUobserver

EU news that matters

Join us