Rosetta's lander Philae is shown in OSIRIS' narrow-angle camera images taken on Sept. 2 from a distance of 2.7 km. The image scale is about 5 cm/pixel. (Photo : ESA)
Philae, the long-lost lander that crash landed on Comet 67P Churyumov/Gerasimenko on Nov. 12, 2014, has finally been found.
The European Space Agency's (ESA) news of Philae's discovery on Sept. 2 comes 28 days before the Rosetta spacecraft, which transported Philae to comet 67P, is set to crash onto the comet, writing finis to its almost 12-year chase of the comet.
The high resolution OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on Rosetta, which flew within 2.7 km of the comet's surface on Sept. 2, spotted Philae. The images show Philae in the shadow of a cliff, one of its landing legs thrust into space.
Philae's body and two of its three legs can be seen extended from the body. The images also provide proof of Philae's orientation, which meant the lander was unable to deploy its solar panels in a proper configuration to capture enough energy. Philae's batteries ran out a few days after landing.
Scientists agree Philae bounced twice upon landing after the harpoons that should have anchored it firmly to the surface failed to fire.
"This remarkable discovery comes at the end of a long, painstaking search," said Patrick Martin, the European Space Agency's Rosetta mission manager. "We were beginning to think that Philae would remain lost forever. It is incredible we have captured this at the final hour."
Rosetta will smash into Comet 67P on Sept. 30.
In its death dive, Rosetta will take its final measurements, including high-resolution imaging and other close-up data. Earlier this year, Rosetta discovered the amino acid glycine, a crucial building block of life, in the dust surrounding Comet 67P.
"We're trying to squeeze as many observations in as possible before we run out of solar power," said ESA Rosetta project scientist Matt Taylor.
"September 30th will mark the end of spacecraft operations, but the beginning of the phase where the full focus of the teams will be on science. That is what the Rosetta mission was launched for and we have years of work ahead of us, thoroughly analyzing its data."
