15 months after Philae made its historic landing on a comet, its legacy is enormous even if Rosetta’s lander is facing eternal hibernation.
Mission teams are now looking ahead to the grand finale: making a controlled impact of the Rosetta orbiter on the comet next September.
Rosetta arrived at Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 6 August 2014 and Philae was delivered to the surface on 12 November. After touching down Philae bounced several times and completed 80% of its planned first science sequence before falling into hibernation. A contact was made with the lander on 13 June and intermittent contacts were made up to 9 July.
However the results of Philae mission are unique and complement all the science harvested by the orbiter Rosetta who is continuing its quest before being sent directly to the surface of 69P late September.
Credit/Courtesy: ESA
