The Rosetta Lander (“Philae”) Investigations

Abstract

The paper describes the Rosetta Lander named Philae and introduces its complement of scientific instruments. Philae was launched aboard the European Space Agency Rosetta spacecraft on 02 March 2004 and is expected to land and operate on the nucleus of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at a distance of about 3 AU from the Sun. Its overall mass is ∼98 kg (plus the support systems remaining on the Orbiter), including its scientific payload of ∼27 kg. It will operate autonomously, using the Rosetta Orbiter as a communication relay to Earth. The scientific goals of its experiments focus on elemental, isotopic, molecular and mineralogical composition of the cometary material, the characterization of physical properties of the surface and subsurface material, the large-scale structure and the magnetic and plasma environment of the nucleus. In particular, surface and sub-surface samples will be acquired and sequentially analyzed by a suite of instruments. Measurements will be performed primarily during descent and along the first five days following touch-down. Philae is designed to also operate on a long time-scale, to monitor the evolution of the nucleus properties. Philae is a very integrated project at system, science and management levels, provided by an international consortium. The Philae experiments have the potential of providing unique scientific outcomes, complementing by in situ ground truth the Rosetta Orbiter investigations.

Low CO/CO2ratios of comet 67P measured at the Abydos landing site by thePtolemymass spectrometer

“…• C (Gulkis et al 2015;Capaccioni et al 2015); however, considerable design effort was made to minimize the heat loss (Bibring et al 2007) to enable the operation of the lander at 3 AU. An estimate of the heat input to the comet surface is around 4 W m −2 through radiation and less than 10 W m −2 by direct contact of the lander feet, both considerably lower than the solar irradiance of around 150 W m −2 at 3 AU.…”

Influence of spacecraft outgassing on the exploration of tenuous atmospheres with in situ mass spectrometry

“…[39] Figure 11 shows results of an interference test with the Rosetta lander PHILAE [Bibring et al, 2007] as well as an attempt to combine measurements with Ptolemy, a gas chromatograph mass spectrometry sensor onboard the lander [Wright et al, 2007]. Both units are mounted on the spacecraft −x panel and are therefore clearly outside the DFMS FOV.…”

Gas chromatography for in situ analysis of a cometary nucleus V. Study of capillary columns’ robustness submitted to long-term reduced environmental pressure conditions

“…This is different from the flight temperature conditions for which the temperature varies in the −50 to +70 • C range in the insulated compartment of Philae where the instruments are stored [20]. However it was previously demonstrated [8] that the stationary phases of the same columns used for this test were resistant to numerous cycles of temperature ranging from −50 • C to 200 • C (the maximum temperature which can be reached by a column during a GC analysis), performed under primary vacuum pressure condition.…”