Philae

Philae will start scientific investigations of the comet immediately .

“飞来号”将立即展开科学调查。

For now , Philae is working , and the instruments have already sent back some images and data .

目前，菲莱正在工作，仪器已经发回了一些图像和数据。

If anything , the Philae landing was even more perilous .

飞来号的着陆更加危险。

One of the most famous buildings at Philae is the Kiosk of Trajan .

肥莱尔岛上做著名的建筑是图拉真亭子。

After touchdown they discovered that Philae had landed without its harpoons firing successfully .

在着陆后，他们发现，飞来号是在没有成功发射鱼叉的情况下着陆的。

In fact , even later data would indicate that the Philae robot may have bounced twice , taking a full two hours to come to a rest .

事实上，之后的数据将会显示菲莱可能弹跳了两次，并用了两个小时才稳定下来。

As expected , the Rosetta orbiter moved out of the line of sight of Philae , breaking radio communications .

正如预期的那样，罗塞塔轨道飞行器移动到菲莱的联系范围之外，无线电通信中断了。

If Philae remains stable and can be properly secured , it will engage in several months of science experiments on 67P .

如果菲莱保持稳定状态并能够确保安全，它将负责完成在67P上长达几个月的科学实验。

Philae detached on schedule , for a seven-hour descent .

菲莱按计划进行了分离，降落持续了7个小时。

Philae separated from Rosetta at 9am on Wednesday morning .

“飞来号”是在周三早晨9点与罗塞塔号分离的。

What is clear is that Philae touched down very close to the targeted zone on the head of the rubber-duck-shaped comet .

但可以确定的是菲莱着陆的位置离预订区域非常近，位于这颗鸭子形状的彗星的头部。

Before the landing , mission managers said anchoring would be needed because 67P 's gravitational pull is too weak to hold Philae firmly in place .

在着陆前，此次飞行任务的主管们表示，着陆器需要固定，因为彗星67P的引力太小，无法让“飞来号”紧紧固定。

The orbiter is to re-establish the radio link in the next day , and mission managers hope then to better understand the stability of Philae 's footing .

轨道飞行器将在第二天重新建立无线电联系，该任务的负责人希望届时可以更好地了解“菲莱”基脚的稳定性。

Dr. Ulamec said fluctuations in the radio link and the generation of power by the solar panels suggested that Philae may have bounced off the surface before settling down again .

尤拉米克博士说，从波动的无线电联系以及太阳能电池板的发电状况来看，“菲莱”可能从彗星表面反弹出去，然后再次着陆。

The biggest challenge , says Stephan Ulamec , manager of the Philae lander programme , was how to design a probe to land on a body whose makeup they had little knowledge about .

据菲莱项目的负责人斯蒂芬介绍，在这20年里遇到的最大挑战是对彗星构造了解较少，不知道该如何设计这个探测器。

Nubian Monuments from Abu Simbel to Philae

从阿布-辛拜勒到菲莱的努比亚遗迹

Scientists at ESA mission headquarters erupted in applause shortly after 4pm GMT as a radio signal from Philae 511m km away confirmed that the washing-machine-sized probe had reached the surface .

在格林威治时间周三下午4点后不久，欧洲航天局任务总部的科学家们爆发出热烈掌声，“飞来号”从距离地球5.11亿公里的地方发来的一个无线信号证实，这个洗衣机大小的探测器已在彗星表面着陆。

The landing culminated a tense day as Rosetta maneuvered to the correct position to let Philae go - moments of celebration were interspersed with long , quiet stretches of waiting .

在这紧张的一天中，“罗塞塔”移动到正确的位置，让“菲莱”脱离了它，而着陆彗星表面是这一天的高潮——人们庆祝了这些时刻，其间则穿插着漫长、静默的等待。

Without the thruster , the washing-machine-size Philae would have to rely on ice screws on its landing legs and the harpoons to anchor it to the comet .

如果没有那个推进器，洗衣机大小的菲莱就只能依靠着陆装置上的冰锥和鱼叉来抓牢彗星表面。

But if it is not anchored , Philae may not operate as long as hoped - the original goal was next March - as emissions of dust and gas grow as the comet moves nearer to the sun .

但是，如果没有抓牢彗星表面，“菲莱”的工作时间可能比预期的短——原计划它会工作到明年3月——因为彗星更加靠近太阳时，灰尘和气体会挥发。

News of the touchdown of the 220-pound lander , named Philae , arrived at the mission control center in Darmstadt , Germany , at 5:03 p.m. local time ( 11:03 a.m. Eastern time ) .

220磅重的着陆器“菲莱”（Philae）成功着陆的消息，在德国达姆施塔特本地时间下午5时03分（美国东部时间上午11时03分）到达了那里的“罗塞塔”任务控制中心。

While Curiosity dropped on to a relatively smooth Martian surface , Philae landed on a duck-shaped lump of ice , dust and rock just 4km wide , strewn with boulders and shooting out unpredictable jets of gas .

“好奇号”是在相对平滑的火星表面着陆的，而“飞来号”则是降落在一块鸭子形状、由冰、尘埃和岩石组成的块状物上，只有4公里宽，周围散布着巨石，而且喷射出无法预测的气流。

It was hailed as one of the biggest success stories in the history of space exploration – 20 years of planning ended earlier this year with the Philae lander rendezvousing with Comet 67P over 300 million miles ( 480 million kilometres ) away from Earth .

菲莱探测器被誉为太空探索史上最大跨越之一，历经20年的策划期终于在年初发射并成功在离地球四亿八千万公里的67P彗星上着陆。

Even then , not everything went to plan , and two decades of meticulous planning could have failed within minutes at touchdown . Philae 's anchoring harpoons didn 't fire as planned , and it bounced off the comet before settling onto its icy surface and successfully beaming data back to its relieved creators .

可即便是花了20年设计、缜密计划过的菲莱还是在着陆的几分钟里有点小失败：“鱼叉”系统未如计划打开，无法准确钉入彗星表面。不过幸运的是，菲莱还是成功地把数据发回了地球。