News Archive

Rosetta imagery shows Philae at first landing site

Images recorded by Rosetta's navigation camera appear to show the lander, its shadow and the dust cloud kicked up by its first touchdown.

Loss of contact with Philae

A few moments after the pirouette, battery voltage suddenly plummeted and engineers said the end was near. Trapped between a rock and a dark place beyond its ability to survive, Philae dutifully sent back stored data and even made fresh measurements until finally, just after 7:30 p.m. (EST-5), contact was finally lost.

Comet lander’s batteries near exhaustion

Trapped in rough, forbidding terrain with its solar panels draped in shadow, the Philae comet lander raced the clock Friday to carry out high-priority science operations, including an attempt to drill into the surface of the nucleus, before exhausting its on-board batteries and effectively losing consciousness.

Lander manager says Philae is doing well but battery life is low

The lander project manager Stephan Ulamec says tremendous science has been collected during Philae's short time on the surface but battery life is now limited and it is unlikely to last much longer.

Videos: Delta 4-Heavy and Orion prepared for launch

Researchers race to collect comet data from Philae

Comet scientists planned to send up new orders to Europe's Philae lander Thursday to kick off a second day of research after the probe endured a jumpy touchdown on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Photos: Orion’s rollout to the pad

Mission scientist reacts to historic first images from the surface of a comet

Rosetta mission scientist Matt Taylor says the science team is jubilant after the Philae lander captured the historic, first close up images of the surface of a comet and began returning data from its science instruments.

Rosetta camera captures Philae’s descent to the comet

Rosetta’s OSIRIS camera witnessed Philae’s descent to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Philae sends first image from comet

Europe's Philae lander radioed home Thursday, sending the first picture from the surface of a comet hours after a dramatic descent that apparently culminated in bouncing hundreds of meters across the distant world before coming to rest.