ESA's Philae To Finish Mission By Working Hard To The Very End

(Photo : Getty Images/Handout) The Philae lander during descent to the 67P comet, approximately 3 km from the surface.

The European Space Agency is saying goodbye to its Rosetta mission, which commenced in March 2004 and arrived on comet 67p in August 2014.

The ESA will initiate the end of the Rosetta mission by shutting down the probe's Electrical Support System Processor Unit. The system was used to communicate with Philae, the lander they used to reach 67p.

"Considering how many different circumstances Philae had to be designed for, the lander functioned very well," Valentina Lommatsch, a member of the lander team at the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), told Nature. "No, we didn't get everything we hoped for, but I can't even list all the obstacles Philae overcame successfully."

The Rosetta mission was initiated so that astronomers and researchers could learn more about the origins of life. According to Paul Weissman, the Interdisciplinary Scientist for the Rosetta Mission at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, comets are among the best hinters of the universe's early days. "Comets are the most primitive bodies in the solar system. By studying that material, we learn about the chemistry of the early solar nebula."

The Philae has completed 64 hours of experiments based on 67p. Although the comet has no magnetic field, it does have aldehydes and a hard crust covered with dust and ice. The Philae had various means of collecting information, and according to Space Exploration Network's Paul Sutherland, "Philae was pre-programmed to carry out a number of experiments as soon as it landed at its designated site, Agilkia, on November 12, following a seven hour descent from the mothership. One was to "sniff the air" so that experiments COSAC (Cometary Sampling and Composition) and Ptolemy could determine the chemical make-up of the gas and dust being given off by the comet."

Although Rosetta's mission is at its end, information is still being sent back to Earth, so the space probe will prove its purpose till the very end.