Space Post - Rosetta comet chaser / Philae lander

[Neil]

Suppose to wake up today after tens years in space, and prepare for its close encounter with a comet in August.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25782249

Live coverage here, where we should get a signal about 18:00pm GMT - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/10583417/Watch-live-comet-chasing-Rosetta-spacecraft-wakes-up-from-deep-space-hibernation.html

[AcesandEights]

Suppose to wake up today after tens years in space, and prepare for its close encounter with a comet in August.



I don't know, this is how bad scifi movies start (some good scifi movies, too)!

[Neil]

So far so good! - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-25814454

[Legion2213]

Praying that when the lander tries to take a sample it discovers an "alien alloy" just beneath the surface! :D

But seriously...it's a great undertaking, yet like the Voyager mission, it is also really f*cking depressing that decades and lifetimes are involved just tootling around our own solar system...space is obscenely big. The sort of technological leaps we will need to ever visit the closest star in anything like a reasonable amount of time will look like magic to us (the sheer unimaginable scale of it is why I also believe that we have never been (or never will be) visited by "aliens"). :(

[Neil]

it is also really f*cking depressing that decades and lifetimes are involved just tootling around our own solar system..Indeed! When I was younger I expected to see man on Mars, and missions to the seas of Enceladus, Europa and Titan. But it's getting to the stage now I suspect I won't live to see it happen :(

- - - Updated - - -

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/rosetta/140120wakeup/#.Ut5PCqDFKmw

Exciting stuff! Just hope it succeeds!


A major course correction maneuver is planned for May to change Rosetta's velocity by approximately 800 meters per second, or 1,800 mph, and adjust the craft's trajectory to arrive in the vicinity of Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August.

Rosetta's long-range camera should acquire the first images of the comet this spring, with the 3-mile-wide comet growing larger in the probe's apertures over the summer.

In August, Rosetta is scheduled for a delicate, untried maneuver to enter orbit around the comet.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/rosetta/140120wakeup/rosetta_400521.jpg

[wayzim]

...space is obscenely big. :(

You might think that it's a long ways to the chemist's ... ( fill in the rest of the quote. ;) )

Yep, we gotta figure out a practical way around the speed limitation which is Light - stat! Otherwise, it's sleeper or generation ships for us. Anyone for a decades long game of UNO?

Wayne Z

[Legion2213]

Well Neil, at this point, I'd settle for a rocket belt... :D

In all honestly though, if we pull this landing off, I think it will pave the way for those who are seriously looking at "asteroid mining". :)

[Neil]

Well Neil, at this point, I'd settle for a rocket belt... :D

In all honestly though, if we pull this landing off, I think it will pave the way for those who are seriously looking at "asteroid mining". :)

Possibly, but look at this mission... TEN YEARS to land one little probe on a comet... And mining an asteroid and returning stuff is going to be cost effective?

[Legion2213]

The Philae lander, which Europe hopes to put on the surface of a comet later this year, has been re-activated after three years in deep-space hibernation.

The small probe is currently riding piggy-back on the Rosetta satellite. This was despatched 10 years ago to rendezvous with the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and was itself awoken in January.

"Mothership" and lander should arrive at the huge ice object in August.

After a period of mapping, Rosetta will then release Philae on its challenging bid to attach itself to 67P in November.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26790833

Kind of exciting, we've landed plenty of little probes on planets, but asteroids...it's seems like a new chapter...a whole new undertaking. :)

[Neil]

Big 8hr burn today to get it on target - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27498534

Fingers crossed!

- - - Updated - - -

Success - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27517090

[Neil]

Only a month until it goes into orbit (hopefully) - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28146472

[Neil]

Double comet - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-27110882


The pictures show that 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko appears to be not one but two objects joined together. It is what scientists call a "contact binary"

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/76285000/jpg/_76285356_comet3.jpg

[Neil]

The probes got to try and land on this! - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28351234

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/special/2014/newsspec_8389/animatedcomet-360.gif

[Neil]

In orbit - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28659783

[Legion2213]

Yep...mission progressing nicely.

We are capable of great things when we have a mind to do them...more of this please, world governments and scientists!

Pic on the BBC link is the most detailed yet...incredible!

[Neil]

Some nice photos - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28741244

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/76940000/jpg/_76940718_zoom.jpg

[rongravy]

Amazing pics, more like!!!

[Neil]

Always hard to get a sense of scale with these photos isn't it.

[Neil]

Five potential landing locations chosen, three on the smaller lobe (B, I, J) & two on the bigger lobe (A, C) - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-28923010

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/77159000/jpg/_77159328_landing.jpg

Interesting fact! Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko may well wiegh around 10 billion tonnes.... but put it in the see and it would float!

[Legion2213]

Christ on a bike...I hadn't noticed those pics on the BBC site. Fantastic stuff!

Comet Chasers FTW!

[Neil]

Christ on a bike...I hadn't noticed those pics on the BBC site. Fantastic stuff!

Comet Chasers FTW!

Not bad for a 10yr old camera :)

[Neil]

Best selfie ever :) (50km from comet) - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29044139

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/77527000/jpg/_77527037_image.jpg

[Neil]

Landing sight being announced today - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29197291

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/77578000/jpg/_77578648_77578647.jpg

EDIT:-

Location chosen - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29203284

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/77591000/jpg/_77591896_jsite.jpg


Scientists and engineers have spent weeks studying the 4km-wide "ice mountain" known as 67P, looking for a location they can place a small robot.

They have chosen what they hope is a relatively smooth region on the smaller of the comet's two lobes.

[Neil]

Landing on November 12th - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29380448


A major worry is that it could simply bounce off into space.

Worth watching the video on that page showing a half scale model.

[Neil]

Big image - http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky/cometCG01.jpg

[Legion2213]

Best selfie ever :) (50km from comet)

Does ANYBODY dispute this? :)


Big image - http://www.jb.man.ac.uk/astronomy/nightsky/cometCG01.jpg

And does tossing off to High Def pictures of space rocks make me a bad person?

[rongravy]

And does tossing off to High Def pictures of space rocks make me a bad person?

Can I join in on this circle jerk?
I had to go back and see how big this thing is. It said 4.5 km wide, and it looks like a freaking mountain.
Crazy, but beautiful.

[Neil]

Only 16km away now... Landing in 4 weeks :)

http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/78214000/jpg/_78214682_78214681.jpg

[Neil]

Landing on Nov 12th gets green light - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-29633734


The Rosetta probe will eject the Philae robot shortly after 08:30 GMT on the day of landing.

The shove will be imparted at a distance of about 20km from the surface of 67P.

The descent to the 4km-wide comet is expected to take about seven hours. Success or failure will be known roughly 30 minutes after that.

So we'll start getting news of a success about 6pm (GMT).

[Neil]

One week to go!

[Neil]

...T-2days

32vlOgN_3QQ

[Legion2213]

Harpoons dug in, screw anchors deep in the surface...Earth Probe Philae has landed! :cool:

Can't wait to see some actual pictures of this courageous little machine on the surface!

Epic job by all involved...you guys rock! :)

[Neil]

Total, utter, wow!

[Kaos]

Fantastic job, ESA!

[rongravy]

Saw them talking about it on CNN last night, though this thread is where I get most of my info on the particulars as they happen, lol. ;)
Also saw oodles of awesome pics from a link on Yahoo news.
Beautiful stuff to behold, nothing like lassoing a comet...

[Legion2213]

Hmm, initial reports of a perfect touch down seem to have been scotched, some of the ESA guys are saying it may have landed up to three times and generally bounced 100's of metres around the surface a bit!

Latest reports say that it has "stabilised" but it is not attached by the harpoons...no word on the screws that should hold it in place either...it could just be siting there without and anchors at all!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30034060

Still an amazing achievement what ever the outcome, we need to send more of these things out there, just ones with back-up harpoons and stuff!

[Geordie9]

Pretty amazing stuff really! Hope it all works out well and we get to see more of the comet

[Neil]

Hmm, initial reports of a perfect touch down seem to have been scotched, some of the ESA guys are saying it may have landed up to three times and generally bounced 100's of metres around the surface a bit!

Latest reports say that it has "stabilised" but it is not attached by the harpoons...no word on the screws that should hold it in place either...it could just be siting there without and anchors at all!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30034060

Still an amazing achievement what ever the outcome, we need to send more of these things out there, just ones with back-up harpoons and stuff!

If it's not attached then it's being held in place my nothing more than micro gravity!

I wonder what that means as regards the sample based experiments. ie: If you dig down, you could simply push the craft up! And in a few months when this thing is close to the Sun and the comet becomes "active"?

- - - Updated - - -

UPDATE


The spacecraft is in perfect operational order but engineers from the European Space Agency (ESA) have confirmed that it is “almost vertical” with “one foot in the open air”.

“This has an impact on our energy budget,” said one scientist. “The lander is relying on solar energy [and] we’re getting one and half hours of sunlight when we expected six or seven.”

Philae has enough power in its batteries to last for around sixty hours of operation, but scientists are hoping they might be able to move the craft to a more favourable position using the landing gear.

However, there's a danger than any movements will only dislodge the lander from the surface or even tip it onto its back.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/philae-lander-on-its-side-and-in-the-shade--but-scientists-say-the-craft-is-perfectly-operational-9858872.html

[Legion2213]

Looks like it's all over. :(

Still, it was an amazing escapade...we need to do it again!

Maybe time to start allowing small nuclear batteries into space if we really want to explore without relying on solar batteries.

[Neil]

Looks like it's all over. :(

Still, it was an amazing escapade...we need to do it again!

Maybe time to start allowing small nuclear batteries into space if we really want to explore without relying on solar batteries.

It could come back online again in a few months - Fingers crossed!

- - - Updated - - -

WOW!


These incredible images show the breathtaking journey of Rosetta’s Philae lander as it approached and then rebounded from its first touchdown on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 12 November 2014.

The mosaic comprises a series of images captured by Rosetta’s OSIRIS camera over a 30 minute period spanning the first touchdown. The time of each of image is marked on the corresponding insets and is in GMT. A comparison of the touchdown area shortly before and after first contact with the surface is also provided.

The images were taken with Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera when the spacecraft was 17.5 km from the comet centre, or roughly 15.5 km from the surface. They have a resolution of 28 cm/pixel and the enlarged insets are 17 x 17 m.

From left to right, the images show Philae descending towards and across the comet before touchdown. The image taken after touchdown, at 15:43 GMT, confirms that the lander was moving east, as first suggested by the data returned by the CONSERT experiment, and at a speed of about 0.5 m/s.

The final location of Philae is still not known, but after touching down and bouncing again at 17:25 GMT, it reached there at 17:32 GMT. The imaging team is confident that combining the CONSERT ranging data with OSIRIS and navcam images from the orbiter and images from near the surface and on it from Philae’s ROLIS and CIVA cameras will soon reveal the lander’s whereabouts.

The insets are provided separately via the blog: OSIRIS spots Philae drifting across the comet:

http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/17/osiris-spots-Philae-drifting-across-the-comet/

http://i.imgur.com/UEjo0Wz.jpg

[Neil]

Still some hope the lander might come back to life again - http://spaceflightnow.com/2014/12/23/scientific-riches-await-philae-comet-lander-if-it-wakes-up/

[Neil]

The hunt for the lander - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30931443

[Neil]

They've started trying to communicate with the lander again - http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/03/13/rosetta-begins-listening-for-signs-of-life-from-comet-lander/

If it fails now, they'll try again in April.

[Neil]

WOW! - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33126885?ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbc_breaking&ns_source=twitter&ns_linkname=news_central


The European Space Agency (Esa) says its comet lander, Philae, has woken up and contacted Earth.

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/media/images/83619000/jpg/_83619241_83619240.jpg

[Neil]

They've actually located the lander - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-37276221

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/624/cpsprodpb/13992/production/_91047208_philae_found.jpg


...so on Sep 30th the orbiter is going to crash/land...

[Neil]

So controlled crash landing of Rosetta tomorrow - http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6630

[rongravy]

There's a show on tonight I'm recording about that. Science Discovery Channel maybe...?

- - - Updated - - -

Death on a Comet: The Rosetta Mission is the name.
Great documentary on the whole thing, and awesome images down to the final crash. Watching it in HD now, and I highly recommend it. Best part is they claim to have barely scratched the surface, data wise...