Journal
SCIENCE
Volume 349, Issue 6247, Pages -Publisher
AMER ASSOC ADVANCEMENT SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1126/science.aaa9816
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Funding
- German Ministerium fur Wirtschaft und Energie
- Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft- und Raumfahrt [50QP1401]
- CNES
- CNRS
- Universite Joseph Fourier, Grenoble
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The Philae lander, part of the Rosetta mission to investigate comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, was delivered to the cometary surface in November 2014. Here we report the precise circumstances of the multiple landings of Philae, including the bouncing trajectory and rebound parameters, based on engineering data in conjunction with operational instrument data. These data also provide information on the mechanical properties (strength and layering) of the comet surface. The first touchdown site, Agilkia, appears to have a granular soft surface (with a compressive strength of 1 kilopascal) at least similar to 20 cm thick, possibly on top of a more rigid layer. The final landing site, Abydos, has a hard surface.
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