Doug Stanglin and Traci Watson write about Philae's landing on a comet. It is perched on the edge of a cliff, and its solar panels are caught in the cliff's shadow.
Despite years of careful preparation to keep the probe from bouncing upon impact, it shot back from the surface like off a trampoline, staying up for two hours before landing again a half mile away, "which makes it difficult to know where we are now," Ulamec said.
The lander then took yet another small hop before settling down in rugged terrain beside the cliff.
Gravity on the comet is 1/100,000th that of Earth, meaning the washing machine-sized lander weighs just 1 gram (0.04 ounces) there and could simply glide away like a piece of paper.
Philae and Rosetta will use 21 instruments to analyze the comet over the coming months. Scientists hope the $1.62 billion project will help them better understand comets and other celestial objects, as well as possibly answer questions about the origins of life on Earth.
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