European Space Agency cuts radio link to comet lander
Posted July 27, 2016 6:01 am.
Last Updated July 27, 2016 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
BERLIN – The European Space Agency says it is switching off its radio link to the probe that landed on a comet, after receiving no signal from the lander for a year.
The agency says the decision to shut down a communications instrument on the Rosetta spacecraft Wednesday was taken to conserve energy. Rosetta had used the instrument to communicate with its lander, Philae, which touched down on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November 2014.
During the next two months, Rosetta will use its remaining power to conduct scientific measurements before it crash-lands on the comet Sept. 30.
Data collected by Rosetta and Philae have improved scientists’ understanding of comets and the role they played in the early universe.
