You might recall the Challenge we had in April 2014 about Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, Philae and Rosetta.

Back then we wondered about how hard the comet was, and how difficult it would be to land Philae, the descent-lander on the surface.

We found out that it was harder than we thought. ESA’s (European Space Agency) Philae lander touched down Nov. 12, 2014 and then bounced a couple of times before landing and attaching itself to the comet’s surface. But its final location was uncertain.

P/C Space.com infographic by Karl Tate

But it finally landed and stuck… but in a crevice without much light. It ran on batteries for about 60 hours, sending back data (via the mothership Rosetta, orbiting above) before going into sleep mode.

Seven months later, it woke up again (having apparently gotten some sunlight on it’s photocells) and sent back more data. It wasn’t quite as much as we’d hoped, but the thing actually worked. (Except for the harpoons… )

Still, without visual verification (and no handy EXIF metadata giving us the lat/long on the comet), nobody knew quite where Philae sat on the surface.

On September 4, Rosetta managed to get a good image of Philae… and yes, it’s wedged in a shadowy crack on the surface.

Click to see at full-res. P/C ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA. Available on Space.com

Like Philae…

I’m also going to be taking a short break–an actual vacation that will be (mostly) internet and Wifi-free. My goal for the next two weeks is to NOT spend time searching for much of anything other than clear blue water and sandy beaches.

Note: I’ll post a SearchResearch Challenge tomorrow, but you’ll have 2.5 weeks to work on it before I return on Oct 3rd. Go wild in your research! (And if you don’t see your post appearing in the comment thread, don’t panic. I have to approve each one by hand to eliminate the spammy posts. A delay just means I haven’t been connected in a day or two, and that my vacation is being successful.)

In full Philae mode, I’m taking a bit of time off, and will be looking for sunshine to recharge my batteries.

Searching (for azure seas) on!