The European Space Agency’s Rosetta space ship has released its lander craft called Philae, which is the first spacecraft to land on the surface of a comet.
The European Space Agency’s Rosetta space probe released its lander a few hours ago and Philae has become the first spacecraft to ever land on the surface of a comet.
Back in 1969, people around the world watched the first manned lunar landing on their TV sets. Today, millions followed the comet landing through internet livestreaming.
Many things could have gone wrong - one of them being that Philae could have bounced off due to the comet's low gravity. David Shukman of the BBC explained how that challenge was going to be addressed.
The comet, known as 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko, weighs around 20 trillion pounds, and it took the Rosetta spacecraft about ten years to reach it.
Since experts didn’t know what the surface of the comet was like, they couldn’t choose a landing site until they found a suitable place.
Philae will now use the onboard equipment to take photographs and send them back to Earth, which is so far away it takes half an hour to receive any signals.
Experiments will be carried out to test the chemical compounds that make up the surface of the comet, and to measure the effects of the solar wind on the comet’s magnetic field as the comet approaches the Sun.
Sensors are also in place on the lander to measure the density and thermal conditions of the comet.
