Philae reveals water ice on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

Описание: Philae’s second touchdown exposed water ice from the time of the comet’s formation 4.5 billion years ago. Philae’s top surface sank 25 cm into the ice on the side of a crevice. This event provided the first in situ measurement of the softness of the icy-dust interior of a boulder on a comet. According to ESA’s Laurence O’Rourke, “this ancient, billions-of-years-old, icy-dust mixture is extraordinarily soft - fluffier than froth on a cappuccino, or the foam found in a bubble bath or on top of waves at the seashore” On 12 November 2014, Rosetta’s Philae lander descended to the surface of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Credits:
ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
“The Philae lander reveals low-strength primitive ice inside cometary boulders”
Laurence O’Rourke ,PhilipHeinisch, JürgenBlum, SoniaFornasier, GianricoFilacchione, Hong Van Hoang, Mauro Ciarniello, Andrea Raponi, Bastian Gundlach, Rafael Andrés Blasco, Björn Grieger, Karl-Heinz Glassmeier, Michael Küppers, Alessandra Rotundi, Olivier Groussin, Dominique Bockelée-Morvan, Hans-Ulrich Auster, Nilda Oklay, Gerhard Paar, Maria del Pilar Caballo Perucha, Gabor Kovacs, Laurent Jorda, Jean-Baptiste Vincent, Fabrizio Capaccioni, Nicolas Biver, Joel Wm. Parker, Cecilia Tubiana & Holger Sierks
Nature, DOI: s41586-020-2834-3