Laurence will describe the role the Philae lander had to play in the highly successful Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as well as the difficulties faced in trying to find it after it landed. Through imagery & video, Philae’s successful “bouncy” landing on the 12th November 2014 as well as its on-comet science & engineering activities in the days that followed will be highlighted. With Philae’s final location lost in the darkness on the southern part of this deep black icy comet, he will then describe how it wasn’t until a dedicated search campaign kicked off in March 2016 that we started to hone in on its final position – a position finally imaged in early September 2016 when we found Philae nestled between a 200 foot high ice rock and an icy cliff; an image which became one of the most widely shared from the Rosetta mission.

This talk is hosted by Laurence O’Rourke

Image courtesy of ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA