Thursday, April 7, 2016, 16:00
WHGA Auditorium
Stephan Ulamec, DLR Cologne
Abstract: Philae, a comet Lander which is part of the ESA Rosetta mission, successfully landed on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on November 12th, 2014. After several (unplanned) bounces it performed a First Scientific Sequence (FSS), based on the fully charged batteries aboard. All ten instruments of the Philae payload have been operated at least once, producing a wealth of scientific data from the surface of the comet. Due to the fact that the final landing site was poorly illuminated, Philae went into hibernation on November 15th, but signals from the Lander were received again in June and July 2015. Attempts to re-establish reliable and stable communications links, however, were not successful.
Analysis of the data gained during FSS, including housekeeping and interpretation of the bouncing trajectory allow conclusions on the comet surface properties. Together with the rich data gained from the orbiter this information will help optimizing future missions to comets and other small bodies in the Solar System.
The talk gives an overview on the mission design, landing operations, the first scientific results and also implications of Philae results for future missions.
Rosetta is an ESA mission with contributions from its member states and
NASA. Rosetta's Philae Lander is provided by a consortium led by DLR,
MPS, CNES and ASI with additional contributions from Hungary, UK,
Finland, Ireland and Austria.