Posted on 07/26/2016 1:19:35 PM PDT by PROCON
As it reaches the end of its life
Philae, the first robot to land on a comet, has reached the end of its life and is bidding a final farewell to Earth through a series of sad tweets.
“It’s time for me to say goodbye,” Philae tweeted on Tuesday. “Tomorrow, the unit on @ESA_Rosetta for communication with me will be switched off forever…”
After launching from a Rosetta probe, Philae landed on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November 2014, becoming the first spacecraft to touch down on a comet. However, landing trouble led Philae to bounce across the landscape of the comet, finally settling down in a location about a kilometer away from its intended target, in the shadow of a cliff. As a result, the probe received only 1.5 hours of sunlight for every 12-hour rotation—not enough power to replenish its battery.
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
“We had joy.....we had fun...we had seasons in the Sun.....”
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