Philae lander

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Philae (previously known as RoLand) is the name of the lander that accompanies the Rosetta spacecraft. It is designed to land on a comet (67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko) shortly after arrival. ^[1]

[edit] Design

The lander is designed to touch down on the comet’s surface after detaching itself from the main spacecraft body and “falling” towards the comet along a ballistic trajectory. It also will deploy harpoons to anchor itself to the surface, and the legs are designed to dampen the initial impact to avoid bouncing. Communications with Earth will use the orbiter spacecraft as a relay station to reduce the electrical power needed on board the Lander. The mission duration on the surface is planned to be at least one week, but an extended mission that lasts months is possible.

The main structure of the Lander is made from carbon fiber, shaped into a plate maintaining mechanical stability, a platform for the science instruments, and a hexagonal “sandwich” to connect all the parts. The total weight of the Lander is about 100 kg. Its “hood” is covered with solar cells for power generation.

[edit] External links

Rosetta website
Rosetta Lander an article by Andrew J Ball, 1997.
Philae site at gwdg.de
Experiments German page with all onboard experiments.

[edit] References

^ S. Ulameca, S. Espinasseb, B. Feuerbachera, M. Hilchenbachc, D. Mourad, H. Rosenbauerc, H. Scheuerlea, R.Willneckera (2006). "Rosetta Lander—Philae: Implications of an alternative mission". Acta Astronautica 58: 435 – 441. DOI:10.1016/j.actaastro.2005.12.009.