Did Philae drill the comet?

Philae’s Sampling, Drilling and Distribution (SD2) subsystem was activated towards the end of the surface operations that Philae performed on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last week, despite fears that it might alter the lander’s precarious position following its third touchdown. Here we present the latest update from the SD2 team. SD2’s goal was to drill into the comet surface in order to collect and deliver samples to the COSAC and Ptolemy instruments inside the lander (Click here for our introductory post on SD2). It was the last of the lander’s ten instruments to be operated during the night of the 13–14 November. SD2 principal investigator Amalia Finzi has reported that the drill was deployed as planned, extending 46.9 cm below the balcony of the lander and 56.0 cm from its reference point. “It was then retracted to the reference position, the carousel turned in a way that the sampling tube was in front of the right oven, the discharge operation from the sampling tube to the oven was completed, and the carousel rotated in a way that that oven was positioned at COSAC’s location,” she said. Although the ovens worked correctly, the scientists do not yet know how much – if any – material was actually delivered to the ovens by SD2, or whether the instruments sampled dust or gas that entered the chamber during the touchdown. Because Philae was not anchored to the comet surface, it is also possible that, if the drill touched a particularly hard surface material, it moved the lander instead of drilling into the surface. Furthermore, the SD2 instrument lacks dedicated sensors to determine whether or not the surface has been reached, whether a sample was then collected in the sample tube, or if it was then discharged into the oven. But other instruments on board Philae […]



from Rosetta - ESA's comet chaserRosetta - ESA's comet chaser http://ift.tt/1xPJRO3

via IFTTT