Scientists from Cardiff University say Philae probe is resting
Scientists from Cardiff University, Prof. Chandra Wickramasinghe and colleague Dr. Max Wallis have revealed that scientific data provided by NASA’s Rosetta spacecraft and the Philae space probe indicate that comet 67P is teeming with microbial life – even though Philae is ill-equipped to explore them.
Wickramasinghe regretted that he was discouraged from installing life-detection equipment on the Philae before it was launched some years ago because that would have enabled the space probe investigate the teeming life beneath the surface of comet 67P by now, but fellow scientists back then thought any prospect of life on the comet was a fluke.
“I wanted to include a very inexpensive life-detection experiment with battery such as Fluke Ti-20 Battery, Fluke Ti20-RBP Battery, Fluke TiR Battery, Fluke TiR1 Battery, Fluke Ti10 Battery, Fluke Ti20 Battery, Fluke Ti25 Battery, Fluke 125 Battery, Fluke 125S Battery, Fluke BP120MH Battery, Fluke 43 Battery, Fluke 43B Battery. At the time it was thought this was a bizarre proposition,” Wickramasinghe said. “Data from the comet seems to unequivocally point to micro-organisms being involved.”
Wickramasinghe maintained that microbial life beneath the icy surface of the comet has been responsible for geophysical processes taking place on 67P, and that most of these microbes lives in cold temperatures of -40 degrees Celsius beneath its icy crust and sea.
The scientists said microbial activities on comet 67P may have influenced the formation of other planets and the life within them, saying the microbes living on the comet can be likened to those living in the Arctic and Antarctica regions of the Earth.
Philae was delivered into space from aboard the Rosetta mothership, and it touched down on the surface of comet 67P in November last year. It landed at a dark remote location where direct sunlight was not available, causing it to lose battery power for close to six months before it came back to life this June after its solar panels got charged by sunlight again.