The search for the exact location where Rosetta's Philae robot landed is, quite literally, leaving scientists in the dark.
After the lander bounced three times on the surface of a comet, European Space Agency (ESA) scientists believe it may have come to rest in the shadow of a cliff.
.@Philae2014 you’re in a shadow? How am I supposed to spot you there?! Our teams working hard to find you :)— ESA Rosetta Mission (@ESA_Rosetta) November 13, 2014
ESA's Rosetta team initially said Philae landed in its target spot, but after further inspection, they realized it bounced into an undisclosed location. According to Stephan Ulamec, Philae lander manager, one bounce was as high as one kilometer off the surface of the comet.
A visibly tired and emotional team of ESA scientists discussed their struggle to locate the lander during a press briefing on Nov. 13. Ulamec showed the approximate location on the comet (in blue) where Philae is believed to be. The initial landing area is illustrated in red.
While the the firing of the harpoons, which would have secured the lander to the comet, wasn't a success, Philae's primary battery is believed to be working properly and all data acquired before the lander loss of signal at 17:59 UTC were transmitted to the Rosetta orbiter.
Despite all of that, ESA scientists say they the lander is "working very well."
"Philae is on the surface and doing a marvelous job, said Paolo Ferri, ESA's head of mission operations, on Thursday. "We can say we have a very happy lander."
Scientists are using this five-image montage, which Rosetta took, to try to identify Philae's final touchdown point. The images were taken around the time of landing on Wednesday. According to the ESA, the lander has not yet been identified in its second landing location, and there are images from Rosetta that still need to be downloaded for further analysis.
The Philae lander Twitter account, which has been providing cute and quirky updates throughout the mission, shared an animation of images of the lander descent, captured by Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera.
According to the ESA, this GIF comprises images captured between 10:24 and 2:24 GMT on Wednesday as the lander was just 40 meters from touching down. More images showing Philae closer to the surface are still to be downloaded.
Watch @Philae2014's decent in this animation of images from @ESA_Rosetta'sOSIRIS camera #CometLanding http://t.co/cRWZtLtnaW— ESA (@esa) November 13, 2014
The account also shared additional images taken by the orbiter's camera.
Another stunning image of my new home taken by ROLIS during #CometLanding yesterday, when I was just 40 m from #67P pic.twitter.com/I8OZ5kXjXA— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) November 13, 2014
ESA scientists also said rumors that Philae's solar panels were damaged were "false." According to Ulamec, the lander may currently be located in a ridge on the comet, limiting exposure to sunlight. Since the lander can survive for many months in an inactive mode a change in seasons on the comet could allow for solar power to "wake up" in the future, explained Ulamec.
Big moment at Philae conference as Klim Churyumov (who discovered comet) is brought to stage, "I am very happy." pic.twitter.com/OUCGXiHoP3— Mashable News (@MashableNews) November 13, 2014
Klim Churyumov, one of the Soviet astronomers who discovered the 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko comet in 1969, took to the stage near the end of Thursday's press conference.