Space agency: Comet lander ends up in cliff shadow

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-EXCITE

By FRANK JORDANS

BERLIN (AP) — Europe's comet lander Philae has come to rest in the shadow of a cliff, posing a potential problem for its solar panels, scientists from the European Space Agency said Thursday as they published its first image from the surface of a comet.

The photo sent back to Earth shows a rocky surface, with one of the lander's three feet in the corner of the frame.

Philae is still stable despite a failure to latch on properly to the comet's rocky terrain, mission scientist Jean-Pierre Bibring said, adding that it appears to be standing on just two of its three feet but its scientific instruments are operating normally.

The lander scored a historic first Wednesday, touching down on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko after a decade-long, 6.4 billion-kilometer (4 billion-mile) journey through space aboard its mother ship, Rosetta. The comet is streaking through space at 41,000 mph (66,000 kph) some 311 million miles (500 million kilometers) from Earth.

FULL story at link.



The combination photo of different images taken with the CIVA camera system released by the European Space Agency ESA on Thursday Nov. 13, 2014 shows Rosetta{2019}s lander Philae as it is safely on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, as these first CIVA images confirm. One of the lander{2019}s three feet can be seen in the foreground. Philae became the first spacecraft to land on a comet when it touched down Wednesday on the comet, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. (AP Photo/Esa/Rosetta/Philae)


Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141113/sci-comet-landing-cd72e1c515.html

[Roland99]

1. Thanks, Obama!

[Baclava]

2. It's amazing they were able to land at all

Last edited Thu Nov 13, 2014, 01:32 PM - Edit history (1)

first panorama pic

[Fred Sanders]

5. It took one big long bounce, came back down after, was it an hour?, bounced again and just stopped

short of shooting out into space and be lost forever....LUCKY! Or excellent trajectory calculations, with failed harpoons.

Just made it, maybe the little cliff stopped it.

[Baclava]

7. this is how they think it looks after landing

yeah - the cliff face or crater edge or whatever probably saved it

[Fred Sanders]

8. Who was in charge of the harpoons firing? So now it is wedged into a cliff face because of that?

[Baclava]

10. it's been flying for 12 years in the cold of deep space - shit happens, or not

they are happy with the landing - that's good enough for me




the Rosetta orbiter will fly along with the comet as it gets close to the sun - that will be fun too

[mountain grammy]

11. Good enough for me too. Amazing stuff here!

[OnlinePoker]

6. Wait...it's in the sun?

Shouldn't the surface be exploding all around it. Tell me Michael Bay wouldn't lie.

[Baclava]

9. media briefing...updates...no, it's not close enough to the sun yet to get violent

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Rosetta_media_briefing_replay

[ballyhoo]

3. Well, beats a blank.

[Ryano42]

4. Well at least there is music there???

[tomm2thumbs]

12. once they find lander, wonder if they can angle the mother ship solar panels to reflect light to it

to charge the batteries, albeit it might be slower than directly lit energy, at least it'll be something... unless it is so far that it would be like reflecting your watch across a highway to a solar panel the size of a dime or something.

[muriel_volestrangler]

13. Rosetta, the mother ship, is orbiting the comet, so not in one place

and is far too far away to be of any use. The orbit is something like 30km away, and its panels about 20m by 2m, so reflected light from it would just be a bright point of light. There would be less reflected light from it than we get from the Moon.

Also, they don't know the precise location where Philae stopped bouncing.

[tomm2thumbs]

18. Figured it would be like trying to shine a watch face reflection across a football field to a dime

or something

hahahah

[Baclava]

14. update - the are going to try drilling

Philae comet lander tries drilling and hammering to free itself

Tools’ action will cause an opposite reaction in Rosetta’s Philae lander, perhaps nudging it into a more sunlit position

Scientists have begun activating a drill and hammer on board the robotic comet probe Philae in an attempt to move it into sunlight so that its solar panels can be charged.

Time is running out for the European Space Agency’s lander. Philae has been receiving just 1.5 hours of sunlight instead of the expected 6-7 hours. This is not enough to charge the secondary batteries. With an initial battery life of about 60 hours, Philae’s mission could be over in less than 20 hours.

Scientists have begun to activate the lander’s drill. Designed to extract sub-surface samples for analysis, it will be a risky manoeuvre. Philae is not anchored to the surface, and the rotation of the drill will cause an equal and opposite reaction on the lander. It could make Philae do a cartwheel.

If Philae is still alive after the drilling, then more radical action could be taken to try to move it. “We have four systems that could move the lander,” said Jean-Pierre Bibring, lead lander scientist at the Institut d’Astrophysique Spatiale, Université Paris Sud, France.

One possibility is to move the landing legs. According to Stephan Ulamec, Philae lander manager, DLR, these could be used to try to hop the lander into the sunlight. But one leg is sticking up into space rather than in contact with the surface, so there might not be enough spring in Philae’s step to achieve this.

Finally, they could even try re-firing the harpoons and thruster system that malfunctioned on landing day to jolt Philae into a new position.

Regardless of what happens to Philae, the main Rosetta mission, which analyses the comet from orbit continues for the next 20 months.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/nov/14/philae-comet-lander-drills-hammers-rosetta

[ChairmanAgnostic]

15. this makes no sense. Something fishy here.

First of all, every asteroid we have looked at in detail is spinning on all three axes. no matter where it landed, at some point it is going to be hit by the sunlight.

[Baclava]

16. some, but not enough light - and it's not an asteroid - it's a comet

nothing fishy, it landed rough and ended up under a cliff or in a crater hole or something

[Codeine]

17. It's getting sunlight, but only for an hour and a half or so at a time.

There's a cliff shading it, which complicates things.

[IDemo]

19. WP: The Rosetta lander is dead — at least for now

After just over two days of working tirelessly, the Rosetta spacecraft's lander -- the indomitable Philae -- finally went to sleep.

.@ESA_Rosetta I'm feeling a bit tired, did you get all my data? I might take a nap… #CometLanding

— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) November 15, 2014

<>

The probe stopped working at 7:36pm Eastern Time -- just before it was schedule to lose touch with mission control anyway.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2014/11/14/the-rosetta-lander-is-dead-at-least-for-now/