Philae probe drills into comet, turns toward light
Source: Associated Press
Philae probe drills into comet, turns toward light
By GEIR MOULSON, Associated Press | November 14, 2014 | Updated: November 14, 2014 6:24pm
BERLIN (AP) The spacecraft that landed on a comet performed two tricky maneuvers Friday, by drilling into the rocky surface and rotating itself to catch more sunlight.
Both operations carried considerable risks, because they could have toppled the probe or push it out into the void. But without them the Philae lander that scored a historic first by touching down on a comet Wednesday risked skipping a key scientific experiment and running out of battery.
Scientists at the European Space Agency said the maneuvers appeared to have worked.
"My rotation was successful (35 degrees). Looks like a whole new comet from this angle," read a message posted on the lander's official Twitter account.
Earlier, the scientists tweeted: "First comet drilling is a fact!"
Since landing on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko some 311 million miles (500 million kilometers) away, the lander has performed a series of tests and sent reams of data, including photos, back to Earth.
But with just two or three days of power in its primary battery, the lander has to rely on solar panels to generate electricity after that.
Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/science/article/European-probe-plants-thermometer-on-comet-5892326.php
randys1
(16,286 posts)stupid fucking assholes
But I love this stuff, landing on a comet?
How in the HELL did they do that
starroute
(12,977 posts)So the Tea Party isn't a factor.
awoke_in_2003
(34,582 posts)The tea partiers here are against it, and they (Europe) went and did it.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)with, gulp, us?
glinda
(14,807 posts)The Traveler
(5,632 posts)And in terms of expenditures ... small potatoes compared to the costs of corruption and corporate welfare.
And what did we ourselves get out of our investment in space back in the 60s? Shall we begin with the technologies that allow us to communicate right now?
It's true for living things. It's true for cultures. Grow. Learn. Or go down.
Trav
Exultant Democracy
(6,594 posts)Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)sharp_stick
(14,400 posts)this just blow me away.
PatrickforO
(14,587 posts)Of course, our education system is like 38th in the world behind Croatia, so unless we get our act together with STEM skills ASAP, we're not going to be able to lead in stuff like this.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)True, but recently a billionaire said we little people could be plumbers.
PatrickforO
(14,587 posts)take our place as wage slaves in the brave new Neoliberal economy.
oldandhappy
(6,719 posts)ESA is a leader in great stuff. I am not sure why, but drilling into a comet made me smile. My idea of comets is ice and rocks. Sort of not substantial. I guess the lander will give us some real info on this. Exciting!!
WillyT
(72,631 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,361 posts)With its batteries depleted and not enough sunlight available to recharge, Philae has fallen into 'idle mode' -- a possibly long silence. In this mode, all instruments and most systems on board are shut down.
"Prior to falling silent, the lander was able to transmit all science data gathered during the First Science Sequence," says DLR's Stephan Ulamec, Lander manager, who was in the main control room at ESOC tonight.
...
Contact was lost at 00:36 UTC / 01:36 CET, not long before the scheduled communication loss that would have happened anyway as Rosetta orbited below the horizon.
From now on, no contact would be possible unless sufficient sunlight falls on the solar panels to generate enough power to wake it up. The possibility that this may happen was boosted this evening when mission controllers sent commands to rotate the lander's main body, to which the solar panels are fixed. This may have exposed more panel area to sunlight.
http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/15/our-landers-asleep/
Next possible contact is 8 hours from now. Before that post:
On board Philae, system voltage has fallen very close to 21.5V; below that, the battery won't last much longer. At this time, there is insufficient sunlight to provide power.
http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/15/lander-battery-voltage-falling-fast/
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Who thought this up?
That's an amazing feat, has and will provide new knowledge. It makes me wonder if that was the only option, and why that project instead of others.
But I digress...
I am curious. > Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed the news coverage about how "WE" did this rosetta thing?
When the US shoots a spaceship off, they report the US shot a rocket.
But when the EU shoots one, it's WE, especially after it landed and is operating as it should.
Was it just the few headlines I saw, admittedly not a representative sample? Or perhaps like some of that new bipartisanship?
Thor_MN
(11,843 posts)That doesn't imply that the US is part of that "we".
What has surprised me is that the thruster didn't work, the harpoons didn't work, the thing bounced, landed sideways at the base of the cliff so the solar panels mostly don't work and it's being reported as a raging success. Practically the only thing that could have gone worse is if it missed or was totally dead when it detached. That's not to say it hasn't accomplished a lot already, but it has had some failure. If it had been a NASA probe, the teahadists and media would be screaming about wasted taxpayer money.
jakeXT
(10,575 posts)jtuck004
(15,882 posts)More playing politics with science. That will get wider dissemination and do us less good than the data for a long while, maybe ...
I watched Japanese News during Fukushima - they taught people English in a second screen - words, pronunciations, etc.
We, on the other hand, demand Wolf Blitzer.
We is funny people.
SCVDem
(5,103 posts)just getting Rosetta in an orbit around a comet would be considered a success. Remember that this was not a flyby, but an ongoing orbit as the comet orbits the sun.
Why this comet and this mission? The scientists knew the cycle of 67P. They knew it would be getting closer than normal due to a brush with Jupiters gravity. Convenient information actually.
I love this sciencey stuff!!
We also get to see how close Hollywood got the terrain and gravity aspects of a comet.
What did you guys think a "dirty snowball" really looked like?
This is amazing! Great job ESA!
Rhiannon12866
(206,016 posts)This is so incredibly cool and completely boggles the mind!
muriel_volestrangler
(101,361 posts)Paolo Ferri, ESA's head of mission operations, told The Associated Press, that the Rosetta orbiter did not get any signals from the lander on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
...
"We don't know if the charge will ever be high enough to operate the lander again," Ferri told The AP ahead of the 5 a.m. ET listening time.
"It is highly unlikely that we will establish any kind of communication any time soon, but nevertheless the orbiter will continue to listen for possible signals."
http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/rosetta-comet-mission-no-communication-from-philae-lander-1.2836387
They need a minimum amount of sun to get anything going - they can't just gradually build up charge:
A lot of people have been asking me whether the tiny amount of sunlight reaching the solar panels now would be enough to recharge the battery, given enough time. Lommatsch put that idea to rest.
It is very unlikely right now. We have 1.5 hours (of sunlight) at less than 1 watt, and 20 minutes of 3 or 4 watts. The lander needs 5 watts to boot....In order to charge the secondary battery, we have to heat it to 0 degrees Celsius. We need about 50-60 watt-hours a day in order to reach 0 degrees and still have daylight left to charge the battery. So it doesn't look that great. What we could hope for is if we are closer to perihelion, near 1 AU, maybe we could have enough energy on our one solar panel, maybe every once in a. Having (a communication) link requires additional power again.
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2014/11141330-philae-update-my-last-day-in-darmstadt.html
Judi Lynn
(160,623 posts)Duppers
(28,127 posts)riversedge
(70,302 posts)muriel_volestrangler
(101,361 posts)However, some careful work by a number of people in ESA's Flight Dynamics team and by followers of our Rosetta blog has shown that these NAVCAM images show more, namely Philae itself, just after the bounce!
It appears as a couple of brighter pixels closely accompanied by its shadow in the form of a couple of darker ones just below, both to the right of the diffuse dust cloud shadow.
Credit for the first discovery goes to Gabriele Bellei, from the interplanetary division of Flight Dynamics, who spent hours searching the NAVCAM images for evidence of the landing.
http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/16/philae_spotted_after_first_landing/
Bandit
(21,475 posts)I have yet to see the tail which I believe is the defining attribute of a comet.
Judi Lynn
(160,623 posts)Scientists 'confident' comet lander will wake up
By FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press | November 17, 2014 | Updated: November 17, 2014 4:52pm
BERLIN (AP) A burst of sunshine in the spring could be just the wakeup call for Europe's comet lander.
Scientists raised hopes Monday that as the Philae lander nears the sun its solar panel-powered battery will recharge, and the first spacecraft to touch down on a comet will send a second round of scientific data back to Earth.
Since landing with a bounce on the comet Wednesday, Philae has already sent back reams of data that scientists are eagerly examining. But there were fears its mission would be cut short because it came to rest in the shadow of a cliff. Its signal went silent Saturday after its primary battery ran out.
Shortly before that happened, the European Space Agency decided to attempt to tilt the lander's biggest solar panel toward the sun a last-ditch maneuver that scientists believe may have paid off.
"We are very confident at some stage it will wake up again and we can achieve contact," Stephan Ulamec, the lander manager, told The Associated Press.
More:
http://www.chron.com/news/science/article/Results-from-comet-lander-s-experiments-expected-5897719.php