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Thread: ESA's Rosetta Comet Landing

  1. #1

    Default ESA's Rosetta Comet Landing

    ESA's Rosetta has reached Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, the probe Philae has separated successfully, and in a few hours will attempt a historical first by landing on the comet. The 'Go' decision was given at 7.09am GMT this morning.






    Some pictures of the comet released by ESA.








    There's a livestream of ESA's mission control in Darmstadt, Germany
    http://new.livestream.com/esa/cometlanding

    ... and the BBC is running a live broadcast:
    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/scien...nment-29985988

    09:10
    Part of the difficulty is the very low gravity on the 4km-wide ice mountain. Philae needs to be wary of simply bouncing back into space. As a consequence, on contact it will deploy foot screws and harpoons to try to fasten its position.
    It will then take a picture of its surroundings - a strange landscape containing deep pits and tall ice spires. This is, though, an event with a highly uncertain outcome. The terrain that has been chosen for the landing on the rubber duck-shaped object is far from flat. Philae could bash into cliffs, topple down a steep slope, or even disappear into a fissure.


    09:17
    For the next couple of hours Rosetta and Philae will be out of radio contact. The umbilical that has joined them for 10 years was dropped at separation. Rosetta must now slew to get into a better position to follow the descent.
    Philae, on the other side, should be taking some goodbye pictures of "mummy". The little robot also needs to think soon of putting out its legs ready for the landing. 1053 GMT is the time when Rosetta and Philae should make radio contact with each other. Assuming that happens, we will get to see those goodbye pictures here on Earth.

  2. #2
    Way to go Yurps!

    Though too bad about the landing.

  3. #3
    As I understand it, all relevant experiments have been done with battery power. The solar panels were more of an extra that didn't made it. The landing was not as planned but still over all successful.
    "Wer Visionen hat, sollte zum Arzt gehen." - Helmut Schmidt

  4. #4
    Bouncey-bounce.


    Image on the left shows the dust cloud thrown up by the landing. On the right, Philae and its shadow

    Yep - all data they'd aimed to collect was received just before Philae went into hibernation. Was a close call.

    Philae will now hibernate until at least August 2015, when the comet's orbit brings it closer to earth (it's currently out nearer to Mars) where it is much hotter, and there's a good chance there'll be enough solar power to bring it to life again.

    Rosetta will still continue its own orbit of the comet however, and data will continue to be gathered from there.

    All in all quite an incredible achievement.


  5. #5
    So now let's discuss about that shirt.
    "Wer Visionen hat, sollte zum Arzt gehen." - Helmut Schmidt

  6. #6
    Please don't give that retarded outcry any more attention than its already gotten.
    "In a field where an overlooked bug could cost millions, you want people who will speak their minds, even if they’re sometimes obnoxious about it."

  7. #7
    Do you think that with NASA landing on this "comet", the money couldn't have been better spent putting out chip pan fires? These "scientists" think they have all the answers...
    When the sky above us fell
    We descended into hell
    Into kingdom come

  8. #8
    They've already solved that, it's called the electric deep fryer. You lot are just too lazy to trade in your chip pans for something safer and more efficient.
    Last night as I lay in bed, looking up at the stars, I thought, “Where the hell is my ceiling?"

  9. #9
    Senior Member Flixy's Avatar
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    http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30097648

    Interesting (possible) results!


    The Philae lander has detected organic molecules on the surface of its comet, scientists have confirmed.

    Carbon-containing "organics" are the basis of life on Earth and may give clues to chemical ingredients delivered to our planet early in its history.The compounds were picked up by a German-built instrument designed to "sniff" the comet's thin atmosphere.
    Other analyses suggest the comet's surface is largely water-ice covered with a thin dust layer.
    The European Space Agency (Esa) craft touched down on the Comet 67P on 12 November after a 10-year journey.
    Dr Fred Goessmann, principal investigator on the Cosac instrument, which made the organics detection, confirmed the find to BBC News. But he added that the team was still trying to interpret the results.

    [...]
    Keep on keepin' the beat alive!

  10. #10
    Space Foreigners! Or contamination?
    When the sky above us fell
    We descended into hell
    Into kingdom come

  11. #11
    Senior Member Flixy's Avatar
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    Or neither! Organic basically means carbohydrates, doesn't it?
    Keep on keepin' the beat alive!

  12. #12
    Yeah, I think they (or reporters) are setting a low bar of anything with carbon. Still, it's tantalizing to imagine life starting this way in other places.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Flixy View Post
    Or neither! Organic basically means carbohydrates, doesn't it?
    Pretty much anything with carbon is organic... carbohydrates are carbon, hydrogen and oxygen containing and can be pretty complex. But as example, CO2 is organic - simple, stable and very common.
    The Rules
    Copper- behave toward others to elicit treatment you would like (the manipulative rule)
    Gold- treat others how you would like them to treat you (the self regard rule)
    Platinum - treat others the way they would like to be treated (the PC rule)

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadnaught View Post
    Yeah, I think they (or reporters) are setting a low bar of anything with carbon.
    Low bar? The definition of organic compound requires it to be carbon-containing, nothing beyond that - there are few exceptions, though, for example, CO2 is not usually considered organic, neither is baking soda, although both contain carbon.
    Methane would certainly qualify, and it's not that rare in space, and has been detected on several comets before.
    Carthāgō dēlenda est

  15. #15
    I feel like 'organic' is such a flexible term anyways... kinda like 'metallic'. It used to have a very specific meaning that was well-rooted in science (i.e. compounds made by living processes), but that definition has long ago been discarded in favor of vaguer definitions because it was demonstrably inaccurate. Ditto for our understanding of metals. *shrugs*

  16. #16
    Senior Member Flixy's Avatar
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    Keep on keepin' the beat alive!

  17. #17

    Last edited by Timbuk2; 06-14-2015 at 08:03 PM.
    Quote Originally Posted by Steely Glint View Post
    It's actually the original French billion, which is bi-million, which is a million to the power of 2. We adopted the word, and then they changed it, presumably as revenge for Crecy and Agincourt, and then the treasonous Americans adopted the new French usage and spread it all over the world. And now we have to use it.

    And that's Why I'm Voting Leave.

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