The waters of Honey Creek slip over Turner Falls in the Arbuckle Mountains, Oklahoma

State of the Rosetta Mission As a lot of you may already have heard, Philae experienced a few problems while landing on comet 67P on Wednesday. The downwards thruster and harpoon system failed, resulting in Philae bouncing before coming to a stop in the shadow of a cliff, rather than in the intended site. The problem with this is that Philae’s battery is solar powered, and scientists immediately had a dreadful feeling that this new location might not provide enough sunlight.

Unfortunately, despite some attempts to capture more sunlight by moving the lander’s body, the power has depleted and the signal has died- not, however, before the ESA received significant data from Philae’s short time on the surface. Perhaps most significantly, the lander executed an operation to drill into the surface, and scientists are currently analyzing data to see whether it was successful.

At this point it seems unlikely that the ESA will be able to operate the lander again anytime in the near future, however it’s not impossible that Philae may at some point receive enough sunlight to return from hibernation. In the meantime, Rosetta will continue to listen as it quietly orbits the comet.

The Velvet Underground