page_title: Philae (spacecraft)
section_title: Landing and surface operations
hierarchical_section_title: Philae (spacecraft) / Landing and surface operations
caption_attribution_description: English: Philae on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko 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. Deutsch: Philae auf dem Kometen 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko Die Kometen-Mission Rosetta ist eine der faszinierendsten und zugleich anspruchsvollsten Unternehmungen der europäischen Raumfahrt. Am 12. November 2014 wird sich das Landegerät Philae vom Mutterschiff lösen, auf dem Kometen aufsetzen und sich sofort mit Harpunen im Eis verankern. Beide begleiten den Schweifstern auf seinem mehrmonatigen Weg zu seinem sonnennächsten Punkt.
context_page_description: Philae is a robotic European Space Agency lander that accompanied the Rosetta spacecraft until it separated to land on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, ten years and eight months after departing Earth. On 12 November 2014, Philae touched down on the comet, but it bounced when its anchoring harpoons failed to deploy and a thruster designed to hold the probe to the surface did not fire. After bouncing off the surface twice, Philae achieved the first-ever "soft" landing on a comet nucleus, although the lander's final, uncontrolled touchdown left it in a non-optimal location and orientation.
  Despite the landing problems, the probe's instruments obtained the first images from a comet's surface. Several of the instruments on Philae made the first direct analysis of a comet, sending back data that will be analysed to determine the composition of the surface.
  On 15 November 2014 Philae entered safe mode, or hibernation, after its batteries ran down due to reduced sunlight and an off-nominal spacecraft orientation at the crash site. Mission controllers hoped that additional sunlight on the solar panels might be sufficient to reboot the lander.
context_section_description: Philae remained attached to the Rosetta spacecraft after rendezvousing with Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 6 August 2014. On 15 September 2014, ESA announced "Site J" on the smaller lobe of the comet as the lander's destination. Following an ESA public contest in October 2014, Site J was renamed Agilkia in honour of Agilkia Island.
  A series of four Go/NoGo checks were performed on 11–12 November 2014. One of the final tests before detachment from Rosetta showed that the lander's cold-gas thruster was not working correctly, but the "Go" was given anyway, as it could not be repaired. Philae detached from Rosetta on 12 November 2014 at 08:35 UTC SCET.
caption: Depiction of Philae on Churyumov-Gerasimenko
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