| Literature DB >> 26228158 |
Jens Biele1, Stephan Ulamec1, Michael Maibaum1, Reinhard Roll2, Lars Witte3, Eric Jurado4, Pablo Muñoz5, Walter Arnold6, Hans-Ulrich Auster7, Carlos Casas5, Claudia Faber8, Cinzia Fantinati1, Felix Finke1, Hans-Herbert Fischer1, Koen Geurts1, Carsten Güttler2, Philip Heinisch7, Alain Herique9, Stubbe Hviid8, Günter Kargl10, Martin Knapmeyer8, Jörg Knollenberg8, Wlodek Kofman9, Norbert Kömle10, Ekkehard Kührt8, Valentina Lommatsch1, Stefano Mottola8, Ramon Pardo de Santayana5, Emile Remetean4, Frank Scholten8, Klaus J Seidensticker8, Holger Sierks2, Tilman Spohn8.
Abstract
The Philae lander, part of the Rosetta mission to investigate comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, was delivered to the cometary surface in November 2014. Here we report the precise circumstances of the multiple landings of Philae, including the bouncing trajectory and rebound parameters, based on engineering data in conjunction with operational instrument data. These data also provide information on the mechanical properties (strength and layering) of the comet surface. The first touchdown site, Agilkia, appears to have a granular soft surface (with a compressive strength of 1 kilopascal) at least ~20 cm thick, possibly on top of a more rigid layer. The final landing site, Abydos, has a hard surface.Entities:
Year: 2015 PMID： 26228158 DOI： 10.1126/science.aaa9816
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Science ISSN： 0036-8075 Impact factor: 47.728