On November 12, 2014, a European spacecraft named Philae tried to land on Comet 67P.
To say it was a bumpy landing would be an understatement. Philae separated from an orbiter called Rosetta. It was supposed to use harpoons to secure itself on to the comet surface, but the harpoons never fired. When it touched down, it immediately bounced back up into space. The first bounce brought Philae half a mile above the comet's surface before gravity brought it back down. Philae drifted and bounced around the comet for two hours before Rosetta's cameras lost track of it. Scientists figured it was stuck in a shady spot where sunlight couldn't reach its solar panels. The batteries did last for more than two days on the surface, so Philae still got some science done. Most notably, it found organic molecules that had never been detected on a comet before. Philae was missing for almost two years before scientists found it. Images from Rosetta showed it stuck in a dark crevice on top of the rubber duck-shaped comet.
To say it was a bumpy landing would be an understatement. Philae separated from an orbiter called Rosetta. It was supposed to use harpoons to secure itself on to the comet surface, but the harpoons never fired. When it touched down, it immediately bounced back up into space. The first bounce brought Philae half a mile above the comet's surface before gravity brought it back down. Philae drifted and bounced around the comet for two hours before Rosetta's cameras lost track of it. Scientists figured it was stuck in a shady spot where sunlight couldn't reach its solar panels. The batteries did last for more than two days on the surface, so Philae still got some science done. Most notably, it found organic molecules that had never been detected on a comet before. Philae was missing for almost two years before scientists found it. Images from Rosetta showed it stuck in a dark crevice on top of the rubber duck-shaped comet.
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TechTranscript
00:00On this day in space.
00:03On November 12, 2014, a European spacecraft named Philae tried to land on Comet 67P.
00:10To say it was a bumpy landing would be an understatement.
00:12Philae separated from an orbiter called Rosetta.
00:16It was supposed to use harpoons to secure itself on the comet's surface, but the harpoons
00:20never fired.
00:21When it touched down, it immediately bounced back up into space.
00:25The first bounce brought Philae half a mile above the comet's surface before gravity
00:29brought it back down.
00:31Philae drifted and bounced around the comet for two hours before Rosetta's cameras lost
00:35track of it.
00:37Scientists figured it was stuck in a shady spot where sunlight couldn't reach its solar
00:40panels.
00:41The batteries did last for more than two days on the surface, so Philae still got some science
00:45done.
00:46Most notably, it found organic molecules that had never been detected on a comet before.
00:51Philae was missing for almost two years before scientists found it.
00:55Images from Rosetta showed it stuck in a dark crevice on top of the rubber duck-shaped
00:59comet.
01:00And that's what happened on this day in space.