Tomorrow, scientists will try to wake the probe "Fila"

Comet Churyumov - Gerasimenko

On November 12, 2014, the Philae descent module sat on the surface of the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. After two bounces, landing was successfully completed in an unplanned mode. She became the first such maneuver in the history of space transport.

Unfortunately, the landing took place on the comet section, which is in the shade of a sheer cliff most of the lit time, so the device was able to work on the stored energy of the batteries for only three days (until November 14), after which it plunged into sleep mode. Nevertheless, in three days he managed to detect organic molecules in the gases that the comet ejects.

The European Space Agency is not losing hope to restore contact with it. Tomorrow, March 12, 2015, at 05:00 CET, the Rosetta spacecraft will begin to listen to the broadcast in the hope of receiving a signal from Fila .
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The place where Fila is supposed to be is now lit about twice as many as in November. Now the comet is 320 million km from the Sun, but there is a chance that the received energy will be enough for awakening. According to experts, the device is illuminated by the sun for 1.3 hours every day (12.4 hours on a comet per day).

“Probably, the temperature is too low there for the lander to resume work, but it’s worth a try. The chances [for his awakening] are increasing every day, ”says Stephan Ulamec, manager of the Fila project from the German Aviation and Astronautics Center.

In order for Fila to resume work, two conditions are required.

1. The case temperature must rise above –45 ° C.
2. The device must generate at least 5.5 watts from its solar panels.

“Phily was designed so that from November 2014, he used all the available solar energy to warm up,” said German engineer Koen Geurts from the control center.


Fila descent vehicle and its instruments

As soon as the two specified conditions are reached, the device will automatically come out of sleep mode, start warming up and try to charge the battery. In this mode, “Filas” every 30 minutes activates the receiving radio antenna and waits for the signal from the Rosette orbiter. This requires minimal energy. But to send a response, he needs to find additional energy to activate the transmitter (for this you need 19 watts).

It is possible that the device on the comet has already come out of sleep mode, but has not yet sent a signal.

Thus, from March 12 to March 20, the Rosetta will transmit a signal to the descent vehicle and wait for a response. On these days, the Rosetta will be in a preferred location opposite the descent vehicle when it is illuminated by the sun.

In response, Fila should transmit information about the state of its tools and systems, temperature, generated energy, etc.

If attempts to wake up the apparatus on March 12–20 prove unsuccessful, they will be repeated at the next opportunity. Now Rosetta is in an approximately 20-km circular orbit around the comet.