The European Space Agency (ESA) announced the chosen point tomorrow for what will be the first landing of the story in a comet, Rosetta will star his next November.
Philae is actually a module of the Rosetta probe, which should probably settle on 11 November-on the surface of the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the spacecraft has been watching closely since 6 August, from when was located less than 100 kilometers.
On 25th ESA announced the five possible points of making contact with the floor of the comet, which have been under investigation in three weeks to identify operational and orbital strategies that involve each.
To do this, Rosetta has reached approximate 50 kilometers away, which allowed its experts "gather more detailed information on each site," particularly in high-definition photographs of the surface temperature measurements of the comet and pressure and density of the gas surrounding the core.
Images have been obtained in which structures can be up to ten centimeters.
In parallel, we have determined the orientation of the comet from the Sun, its rotational speed, mass and surface gravity, other factors are also relevant to assess the technical feasibility of each of the options.
They all respond to a number of conditions, including providing at least six hours of sunlight during each rotation of the comet, and appropriate lighting conditions for scientific observations and to recharge the batteries of the lander but without overheating occurs .
The ESA must disclose am a first point of landing, but also a second option, the challenges posed by the operation, but also the scientific results that can be expected.
He has already warned that the landing maneuver is presumed "complicated" and that will continue for several hours due to the low gravity and mass of the comet.
Once it has settled and fixed to the ground, is expected to Philae may provide valuable information to scientists for about four months. The orbiter will continue to monitor the evolution of cometary activity until the end of 2015.
Rosetta spent ten years traveling through space since it was launched in 2004 and in that time has traveled almost 6,400 million miles in his odyssey to seek answers about the origin of the Solar System.
Researchers have focused on those comets as "time capsules" because they were formed at the origin of the solar system some 4,500 million years ago but since then have fallen away from the star. Consider more deeply know can provide answers about how things were in the beginning.
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