Comet...containing carbon..found..

BERLIN (Reuters) - European comet lander Philae
'sniffed' organic molecules containing the carbon
element that is the basis of life on Earth before
its primary battery ran out and it shut down,
German scientists said.
They said it was not yet clear whether they
included the complex compounds that make up
proteins. One of the key aims of the mission is
to discover whether carbon-based compounds,
and through them, ultimately, life, were brought
to early Earth by comets.
Philae landed on comet 67P/Churyumov–
Gerasimenko after a 10-year journey through
space aboard the Rosetta spacecraft on a
mission to unlock details about how planets and
maybe even how life evolved.
It wrapped up its 57-hour mission on the
comet's surface on Saturday after radioing back
data from a series of experiments as its battery
ran out.
Comets date back to the formation of our solar
system and have preserved ancient organic
molecules like a time capsule.
The COSAC gas analyzing instrument on Philae
was able to 'sniff' the atmosphere and detect
the first organic molecules after landing, the
DLR German Aerospace Center said.
The lander also drilled into the comet's surface
in its hunt for organic molecules, although it is
unclear as yet whether Philae managed to
deliver a sample to COSAC for analysis.
Also onboard the lander was the MUPUS tool to
measure the density and thermal and mechanical
properties of the comet's surface. It showed
the comet's surface was not as soft as
previously believed.
A thermal sensor was supposed to be hammered
around 40 cm into the surface but this did not
occur, despite the hammer setting being cranked
up to its highest level.
The DLR reckons that after passing through a
10-20 cm thick layer of dust, the sensor hit a
layer of material estimated to be as hard as ice.
"It's a surprise. We didn't expect such hard ice
on the ground," Tilman Spohn, who leads the
MUPUS team at the DLR, said in a statement on
Tuesday.
Spohn said MUPUS could be used again if enough
sunlight gets through to reload Philae's
batteries, which the scientists hope may happen
as the comet approaches the sun.