A European robot investigate has made the very first, momentous landing on a comet, but its condition is unsure after harpoons unsuccessful to attach it to the surface.
Officers told the spacecraft may perhaps have raised off the comet after touchdown sooner than coming back to the surface. Lander mission manager Stephan Ulamec told: "Maybe we did not just land one time, we landed two times." A director general from The European Space Agency explains the landing as "a great step for human development".
Added analysis is required to fully know the condition of the probe, well known as Philae. But, Dr Ulamec said to the BBC that at previous radio make contact with the probe; he thought it to be in a steady configuration. "This is the signal right now," he described. "We really have to hang on up to tomorrow morning and then we may know much more." The "first" haling on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was completed at 16:05 GMT.
There were hugs and applauses at the ESA (European Space Agency) mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, as soon as the indication came all through. Director general Jean-Jacques Dordain explained it as "a very good day, not only for Esa, but... I believe for the earth".
The minute the Philae comet landing was fixed Initial data started to return from tools, and one team might see that the Lander had ruined about 4cm (almost 1.5 inches) into the surface, signifying a fairly soft-top layer. But soon after, engineers might see that the harpoons, planned to tie up the spacecraft to the 4kilo meter wide ice ball and dust, had not blazed as planned.
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