ROSETTA

@neologist,

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Sounds like they are in for a tricky landing, though

Yea S., it did prove a bit so didn't it

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@oralloy,

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bounced at that first touchdown….

Most incredible, I'd'v expected disaster. Sometimes wonder if She occasionally does step in

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As no one else has mentioned it, i thought i'd report that the life of the lander may be a matter of days. After rebounding twice, it came down in a shady spot, and it won't be able to replenish it's solar powered batteries.

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@Setanta,

That is the fear. I'd not heard that the lander would not be able to replenish it's batteries, but that it would be problematic doing so. There's still some hope.

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@izzythepush,

I heard a spokesman for ESA on the radio yesterday saying that it was already providing a wealth of data. The comet is about 5 billion kilometers from the sun right now, so, yes, if the lander survives, it may yet get enough sunlight to recharge its batteries.

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@Setanta,

Fingers crossed, at least there is all that data if things go pear shaped. It's already leagues ahead of the failed Mars mission.

If nothing else, like the Apollo missions, it's got kids interested in Science.

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The guys on the propulsion side must be pissed that the pussies on the science side could not get nuclear fuel on this thing. What a waste of a good effort.

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The latest.

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The Philae lander on the distant comet 67P has sent another stream of data back to Earth before losing power.

The little probe delivered everything expected from it, just as its failing battery dropped it into standby mode.

Philae is pressed up against a cliff. Deep shadows mean it cannot now get enough light on to its solar panels to recharge its systems.

The European Space Agency (Esa) fears this contact may have been the robot's last - certainly for a while.

A tweet from the official Philae lander account said: "I'll tell you more about my new home, comet 67P soon… zzzzz."

Philae descended to the comet's surface on Wednesday - the first time in history that a space mission has made a soft landing on a comet.

The next opportunity to talk to Philae will come at around 11:00 GMT on Saturday, when the orbiting Rosetta satellite - which delivered it to the 4km-wide "ice mountain" - comes over the horizon.

But with only 1.5 hours of sunshine falling on the robot during the comet's 12-hour day, it seems doubtful the battery will have recovered enough performance to complete the radio link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30058176

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@izzythepush,

will the comet's path put it into a better position wrt the amount of light from the sun?
Did anyone plot that yet?

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@farmerman,

I suspect someone has plotted that, but i've not been able to find anything in news reports. If someone has a Twitter account, they could tweet the ESA to ask them.

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This is a link to the Rosetta blog

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@Setanta,

alas, I have not engaged in twittery

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Neither have i . . . this is one of those cases (there are many) when i get so frustrated with the press because not only do they ask stupid questions, they fail to ask relevant questions.

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@hawkeye10,

A typical accusatory Hawkee Post.:
Were dealing with 15 year old technology. At the time, the US was the only ones with a nuclear generator (RTG's) which uses plutonium. SInce US was an original prtner and then dropped out because of budget constraints, the ESA decided to "go it all alone" and rely on photovoltaic tech of that era (todays PV tech is about 5 times better)
ANother reason is that, when the US was part of it, the projects would have used bigger boosters which could have handled a plutonium reactor but when the US pulled out, ESA had a max pyload problem and nuke batteries were just out.

I have not said anything about how long it wuld have taken to consier the safety issues in the various member legislatures. I think Germany woulda had a cow with a nuke battery.

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@farmerman,

Sorry, only just noticed your post. Radio 4 said that they hoped the battery would be able to charge up as it approaches the Sun, but it was nothing more concrete than that.

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@farmerman,

farmerman wrote:

A typical accusatory Hawkee Post.:

Hawkeye never lets his ignorance get in the way of being opinionated, actually I think they fuel one another.

Someone just bumped up the Zimmerman thread which brought up one of my favourite Hawkisms.

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Zimmerman seems to have a knack for getting into bazaar situations.

http://able2know.org/topic/239161-15#post-5764333

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@izzythepush,

"MASTER of the OBVIOUS" eh?

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@izzythepush,

They've got the data they wanted. It is possible that Philae's batteries can be reloaded - but that couldn't probably happen before two months. (All according to the "technical chief" of Philae, Koen Geurts.)

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@Walter Hinteler,

But never mind: Comet 67P is an alien spaceship, Philae lander just a cover-up
Wink

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It's Awake!

http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/06/14/rosettas-lander-philae-wakes-up-from-hibernation/

http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/files/2015/06/Philae-wake-up_blog.png

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