BERLIN — Rosetta’s Philae lander is sleeping, but European Space Agency scientists are still interpreting the data it sent back in its 60 hours of operation on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
MUPUS — the hammer tool that almost wasn’t turned on for fear that it would send the unanchored probe careening into space — took some readings that might indicate the comet’s physical makeup. The MUPUS probe contained a thermal mapper that recorded temperatures at Philae’s last landing spot (which it reached after a couple of bounces) of around minus-243 degrees Fahrenheit.
After MUPUS was deployed, its temperature reading dropped to around minus-261 degrees. This may be because the probe was pushed into a cold pile of dust, ESA scientists speculated on the agency’s blog. But MUPUS also did some hammering, and it had a little trouble — it could break only a few millimeters into the comet’s surface, even at its highest setting.
Tilman Spohn, principal investigator for MUPUS, said the team believes that the comet’s surface is probably made up of 10 to 20 centimeters of dust covering strong, thick ice.
Scientists raised hopes that as Philae nears the sun its solar panel-powered battery will recharge and the lander will send a second round of scientific data back to Earth.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
