Philae has landed, and it is now resting!
After a fascinating sequence, with a descent phase perfectly as planned and an impact at a few tens of metres from the selected site followed by two rebounds, Philae finally stopped in a hollow surrounded by cliffs, in an acrobatic position. It is the first panorama taken by the CIVA cameras developed under IAS responsibility which has demonstrated this, confirming the first major success of the mission: Philae has landed and has operated on the nucleus of comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko!
A first sequence of measures and observations has been performed with all on-board instruments. Then the body of the lander has been rotated so as to optimize the lighting conditions on solar panels, enhancing the survival chances of Philae during an hibernation phase after which it should be possible to resume science operations. IAS has made a major contribution to this spectacular success, with the overall scientific responsibility of the lander and that of the CIVA imaging system, which is completed by contributions to two major instruments on the orbiter, COSIMA and VIRTIS.
First panorama taken by the CIVA cameras.
Contact at IAS: Jean-Pierre Bibring, jean-pierre.bibring @ ias.u-psud.fr
