NEW DELHI : Philae, the robotic lander that touched down on the comet 67/P last night was not been able to attach itself securely to the comets surface, new reports indicate. After touching down on the surface, the lander bounced twice, that is it landed three times in all, the lander's magnetometer ROMAP tweeted.
"@Philae_ROMAP magnetic field analysis revealed 3 landings at 15:33, 17:26 and 17:33 UTC," ROMAP's tweet said.
Scientists estimate that the first bounce which lasted for nearly two hours would have put Philae up to one kilometer in space above the comet.
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After landing the first time, the ice screws penetrated about four inches into the comets dusty and icy surface. Two harpoon systems that were supposed to deploy and anchor the 100 kg lander to the surface failed to do so. A thruster that would have pushed the lander's feet further into the surface also failed to work.
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