Doctor Who landed on a comment in the 1960’s
We just landed a spacecraft on a comet for the first time. Here’s why it matters.
Updated by Joseph Stromberg on November 12, 2014, 11:04 a.m. ET @josephstromberg joseph@vox.com
The 220-pound, box-shaped lander was carried to the comet, called 67P/C-G, by a larger probe named Rosetta, launched and operated by the European Space Agency. In August, Rosetta became the first spacecraft to ever be put into orbit around a comet, and at 3:35 am EST on Wednesday morning, it released Philae.
After a seven hour journey down from Rosetta, the lander successfully made contact with the comet, sinking down an estimated four centimeters into its dusty surface. However, the lander’s harpoons did not correctly fire, and it’s possible that Philae may have slowly bounced off the comet, then landed again. Scientists still aren’t sure exactly what happened, but they believe the lander isn’t firmly anchored to the comet.
Regardless, it does seem to be stable and upright at the moment, and has already begun transmittingscientific data, as well as photos of the descent:
