Lander Control Center in contact with Philae once again
June 19, 2015
Lander Control Center in contact with Philae once again
Control centre for Philae – the Lander Control Center at DLR
The Lander Control Center (LCC) at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) facility in Cologne is responsible for the commanding and operation of the Philae lander.
Few things could be more fascinating or demanding in the history of European space travel than the Rosetta comet mission. The lander, Philae, will separate from its parent craft on 11 November 2014, touch down on the comet and immediately fire harpoons to anchor itself on the surface. The two spacecraft will then accompany the comet on its month-long journey to the point at which it is closest to the Sun.
The team at the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) received data from the Philae lander for the third time on 19 June 2015. Between 15:20 and 15:39 CEST, Philae sent 185 data packets. "Among other things, we have received updated status information," says Michael Maibaum, a systems engineer at the DLR Lander Control Center (LCC) in Cologne and Deputy Operations Manager. "At present, the lander is operating at a temperature of zero degrees Celsius, which means that the battery is now warm enough to store energy. This means that Philae will also be able to work during the comet's night, regardless of solar illumination." In the 19 minutes of transmission, the lander sent data recorded last week; from this, the engineers determined that the amount of sunlight has increased: "More solar panels were illuminated; at the end of contact, four of Philae's panels were receiving energy". There were a number of interruptions in the connection, but it was otherwise stable over a longer period for the first time. “The contact has confirmed that Philae is doing very well.”
The lander had already reported from the comet twice after its seven-month hibernation; it sent data on 13 and 14 June 2015. The analysis by the DLR team at the LCC was clear – Philae has managed to survive the icy temperatures on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko – temperature and energy values show that the lander is now operational. In the first two contacts, it sent stored data from early May. "Philae was already awake at this time, but could not contact us," explains DLR's Philae Project Manager, Stephan Ulamec. Now, the trajectory of the Rosetta orbiter around the comet is being modified to optimise the possibility for renewed contact, to allow the orbiter to act as a relay between Philae and Earth. "However, we need a long and stable contact time to conduct research with Philae again as planned," says Maibaum. If these conditions are met, the 10 instruments on board Philae could once again be operated from the LCC.
