The landing(s) of Philae and inferences about comet surface mechanical properties
Science2015Vol. 349(6247), pp. aaa9816–aaa9816
Citations Over TimeTop 1% of 2015 papers
Jens Biele, Stephan Ulamec, Michael Maibaum, R. Roll, Lars Witte, Eric Jurado, Pablo A. R. Muñoz, W. Arnold, Hans‐Ulrich Auster, Carlos M. Casas, Claudia Faber, Cinzia Fantinati, Felix Finke, Hans-Herbert Fischer, Koen Geurts, C. Güttler, Philip Heinisch, Alain Hèrique, S. F. Hviid, G. Kargl, Martin Knapmeyer, J. Knollenberg, W. Kofman, Norbert I. Kömle, E. Kührt, Valentina Lommatsch, S. Mottola, Ramon Pardo de Santayana, Emile Remetean, F. Scholten, K. J. Seidensticker, H. Sierks, Tilman Spohn
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.
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