Philae’s magnetometer measurements on TD2
Philae’s magnetometer measurements on TD2
The highly sensitive magnetometer ROMAP built under the direction of the Technical University of Braunschweig for the Rosetta mission was switched on during Philae's descent from the orbiter to the comet's surface. It continuously recorded the (very weak) magnetic field data in three axial directions (magnetic field component in x-direction = blue, y = orange, z = grey) with a measuring rod almost half a metre long from the first contact with the surface until the probe came to a final standstill. The scale on the left indicates the magnitude of the magnetic flux density in the unit nanotesla. For comparison: the interstellar medium has a magnetic field strength of up to 10 nanotesla, while the Earth's magnetic field has about five thousand times this value in Germany. From the measurements, it was possible to reconstruct the course of the bumpy onward flight of Philae down to the second after the first touchdown. Now the long-sought ‘touchdown point 2’ (TD2) has also be reconstructed from the data in full detail (see also other pictures, graphics and animations). The lower scale shows the time of the events in UT (CET minus one hour): Due to the extremely low gravity at 67P, the events at TD2 took more than two minutes before Philae came to a final halt at TD3 a short time later.
