View source for Philae (comet lander)

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{{dambigbox|the spacecraft|Philae}}
'''''Philae''''' is a [[European Space Agency]] device<ref>''ESA'': '[http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/The_Rosetta_lander The Rosetta lander]'. 16th January 2014.</ref> which landed on the [[comet nucleus|nucleus of a comet]] on 12th November 2014, the first time in history that this had been achieved. ''Philae'' initially bounced off the surface, ultimately coming to rest in a position that did not allow enough [[sunlight]] to reach its [[solar panels]], so ceased sending back data after three days, when its [[battery|batteries]] ran out.<ref>''ESA Rosetta Blog:'' '[http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/15/our-landers-asleep/ Our lander's asleep]'. 15th November 2014.</ref> Its harpoons and screws also failed to anchor it to the surface, which was much harder than expected.<ref>''ESA Rosetta Blog:'' '[http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/18/philae-settles-in-dust-covered-ice/ Philae settles in dust-covered ice]'. 18th November 2014.</ref>

As part of a wider mission to investigate [[comet]] activity, ''Philae'' was launched on 2nd March 2004 with the ''[[Rosetta (comet orbiter)|Rosetta]]'' spacecraft, which took up a position in orbit of comet [[67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko]] prior to releasing the lander.

==Footnotes==
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