Found exploration robots stuck for two years on comets

Scientists discovered that the probe robot Philae was stuck in the crack in the comet through a photograph of Rosetta's mother ship.

According to Mirror, the European Space Agency (ESA) has found Philae's space exploration robot after two years of disappearance, just two weeks before scientists decided to destroy Rosetta's mother ship.

Philae was discovered on September 2 by OSIRIS narrow-angle camera on the Rosetta spacecraft. The image shows that the probe is stuck in a 2.7km long crack on the comet 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Philae's probing robot is stuck in the crack in the comet.(Photo: OSIRIS).

The mother ship Rosetta is expected to finish her mission at the end of September. It is set to crash into comets, which also means contact with Philae will be terminated. Therefore, finding Philae brings great joy to scientists.

"We are very happy to be able to see a detailed picture of Philae just a month before Rosetta completed her mission," said Cecilia Tubiana, a member of the OSIRIS camera team, who first saw the photo. .

"Finding this value is the result of a long and thorough search process. We think that Philae will be permanently lost but unexpectedly the device was found at the last minute , " said Patrick Martin, the regulator. Rosetta practice at ESA sharing.

Rosetta was launched into space in March 2004 to carry out a 10-year mission, hunting for a comet in the solar system in an effort to discover the mysteries related to the process of life formation. on the earth.

Rosetta dropped the robot to explore Philae down to the comet surface of 67P / Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014. However, the ship disappeared after 60 hours due to running out of energy. The last time Philae contacted the mother ship Rosetta was in 2015, when it approached the Sun and received more energy.