Rosetta Mission: five possible places to land on a comet … – 20minutos.es

Five possible on Philae will land on board Rosetta places. (ESA)

It was in 2004 when the space probe Rosetta began a journey 67P / Churyumow-Gerasimenko. Now, a decade later, has made it into the orbit of this rock and experts from ESA (European Space Agency) have announced the five possible landing sites Philae , a small 100-kilogram robot has traveled aboard the spacecraft during all this time.

The team to evaluate the ground has met this past weekend in Toulose (France) at the National Center for Space Studies in France (CNES). “is the first time in history that places are assessed to land on a comet” , acknowledged Stephan Ulamec, responsible Landing Module.

After this phase, intended from the day of landing (scheduled for November 11th) both the probe and the small robot accompany the comet on its journey towards the sun for nearly a year . During the journey through space, Philae is responsible for collecting “in situ” samples, among other things, and Rosetta to study changes of the comet’s surface as are close to the sun and the temperature increases.

“This comet is unlike anything we’ve seen before and features spectacular formations finished yet understand,” said Jean-Pierre Bibring, one of the scientists lander and principal investigator of CIVA instrument consists of six identical chambers whose ultimate goal is to get panoramic images of the surface of the rock.

“The process of selecting the ideal place for the landing of Philae is very complex, “noted the ESA in a statement, then, of the ten possible places that could land on the robot, have been discarded half . The requirements to be met, among others, were the area was flat and that “would provide at least six hours of sunlight during each rotation of the comet,” he declared Ulamec.

The Five preselected sites offer the best conditions for landing

After selection, the final five sites have been designated with different letters: B, I and J (located in one of the smaller lobes of the comet) and A and C (positioned in the largest lobe). “The five shortlisted sites offer the best conditions for landing and to analyze the composition, internal structure and activity of the comet with the ten experiments Philae” said Bibring.

The process has been made possible to Rosetta is located just 100 kilometers from the rock. Here, images are taken of the surface temperature was measured from the rock, the pressure and density of the gas surrounding the core. In addition, we calculated the rotational speed, mass, gravity in the surface and the orientation toward the sun. Moreover, experts have evaluated the risk factors that may be exposed small robot as the impact with other rocks, surface cracks, big earrings and lighting conditions that would condition the scientific observations.

As of now, the spacecraft will approach about 50 kilometers away from the comet to better study the landing sites. It will be on October 14th when the experts have completed research and publicize the final landing site Philae.