Live coverage: Rosetta comet landing

[Blackleaf]

Why would they send this thing with such a fine line on power? Some of the NASA projects launched in the 70's are still transmitting data and are a helluva lot further away from the sun.

They aren't stuck in a huge, dark shadow of a cliff.

But the Philae lander isn't down permanently. It's only napping. It sent a tweet saying:

'I'm feeling a bit tired, did you get all my data? I might take a nap…' - but then added 'I did it! I became the first spacecraft to land on a comet & study it! But it's not over yet…'

When the comet gets closer to the Sun and the shadow that Philae is stuck in gets shorter, giving more light to its solar panels, then Philae will awaken.

Researchers say they are thrilled with the amount of data already acquired.

Prof Mark McCaughrean, Esa's senior scientific advisor, told the BBC that the agency was "hugely happy". "All of the science instruments on board have done all the work they were supposed to do, so we have huge amounts of data back on the ground now, which is really exciting."

Esa have said they have done 80 to 90% of the primary science and heralded the mission a success.

We've found Philae! The animation shows Philae touched down for the first time almost precisely where intended, ESA said. It subsequently rebounded, throwing up a cloud of dust and, after touching down a second time, came to rest where it is now – a still unconfirmed location likely outside of these images.

How Philae and Mission Control chatted via Twitter:

Philae Lander ‏@Philae2014 Nov 14 .@ESA_Rosetta I'm feeling a bit tired, did you get all my data? I might take a nap… #CometLanding

ESA Rosetta Mission ‏@ESA_Rosetta Nov 14
.@Philae2014 You've done a great job Philae, something no spacecraft has ever done before. #CometLanding


Philae Lander ‏@Philae2014 Nov 14
Thank you, @ESA_Rosetta! I did it! I became the first spacecraft to land on a comet & study it! But it’s not over yet… #CometLanding

ESA Rosetta Mission ‏@ESA_Rosetta Nov 14
.@Philae2014 That’s true, your data needs analysing & I’ll keep pace with #67P as it orbits the Sun & study how it changes. #CometLanding

Philae LanderVerified account ‏@Philae2014
My #lifeonacomet has just begun @ESA_Rosetta. I'll tell you more about my new home, comet #67P soon… zzzzz #CometLanding

​

 

[Blackleaf]

Philae comet lander: Sleep well little probe

Jonathan Amos, Science Correspondent, BBC
15 November 2014

European Space Agency flight director Andrea Accomazzo would also like to land Rosetta itself on the comet around a year from now

European Space Agency controllers will not give up on Philae.

They will continue to listen for the little probe in the days ahead, hopeful that it will somehow become active again.

On each pass overhead, the Rosetta satellite will try to detect and lock on to any sort of blip being transmitted from below.

The mission has faced up to the odds before, and won. It bounced and probably scraped across the surface during its historic touchdown on Wednesday.

Philae survived all that. People will now want to believe it can hunker down in the darkness and ride out its present predicament.

It would be very useful to know where exactly the probe is right now on the surface of Comet 67P.

This would give controllers a better sense of whether it is ever likely to come back to life.

The robot's own pictures show it to be rammed up against walls that throw a deep shadow over its solar panels for most of 67P's 12-hour day.

But the conditions that currently prevent Philae from charging its batteries could change.

It is not inconceivable that as the comet moves in closer to the Sun, the amount of light made available to the probe will increase, in amount and in intensity.

There could be structural changes on the comet, too. Obstructions that look hard and imposing today could crumble in time as 67P warms and becomes more active.

The jets of gas and dust that are generated as the comet's internal ices are heated could disturb the robot in such a way that it is bumped to a more favourable lighting location.

For sure, Philae will be very cold in the long nights it is experiencing, but the assessment of the thermal status of the probe is encouraging. It can survive.

If this is the last we hear from the robot, history will be very quick to judge this mission as an astonishing success.

Yes, the robot had some systems failures in its landing mechanisms, but it would be churlish in the extreme to dwell on these shortcomings.

The robot delivered almost 100% of its primary goals, returning the first-ever pictures and other science data from the surface of a comet.

And it has been a blast. This past week's events really caught the world's attention.

So how about we do it again? This is the dream certainly of many who control Philae's mothership, Rosetta.

Black swan: The strange shape of 67P, which was discovered by Soviet scientists Klim Ivanovych Churyumov and Svetlana Gerasimenko on 20 September 1969, turned an already challenging prospect into an extremely daunting one

It will continue to orbit and observe 67P for at least another year, but after that there is a desire to put the satellite on the surface of the comet as well.

"I would like to land on the surface of the comet with the full spacecraft - definitely," says European Space Agency flight director Andrea Accomazzo.

"In the end, we can design an approach trajectory to the comet. We just slow down the spacecraft and it falls on to the comet.

"The touchdown will not be as soft as the lander. There's no landing gear; the spacecraft would be mechanically damaged. But we can do it."

And Paolo Ferri, Esa's head of mission operations, added: "We would plan such a manoeuvre so that we could follow Rosetta down to the surface. But once it touches down, we cannot control anymore the attitude. So, the antenna will not be pointing to the right direction.

"We would lose the contact when it touches down, but we would still be able to control it down to the last metre, to get signal, measurements and pictures. It would be spectacular. That's the right way to die."

You can hear more from Accomazzo and Ferri in the BBC Radio 4 Frontiers special we recorded from mission control on Wednesday night - if you haven't already caught the programme.

And there'll be a special Sky At Night edition dedicated to Philae's exploits on BBC Four television this Sunday at 2100 GMT.

What scientists learn from Rosetta and Philae will re-write the textbooks - of that, there is no doubt

BBC Radio 4 - Frontiers, The Rosetta Mission

BBC News - Philae comet lander: Sleep well little probe *******************************************************

Rosetta: A Sky at Night Special

BBC Four
16 November 2014

This programme will be available on BBC iPlayer shortly after broadcast at 21.00 GMT tonight

It is one of the most extraordinary space adventures in a generation - to land a spacecraft on a comet.

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft has been hurtling through space for over 10 years, tracking down a comet called 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Now it is about to do something that has never been attempted before and land a spacecraft on the comet's surface.

This special episode of The Sky at Night puts the viewer right at the heart of the action, witnessing events as they happened from inside mission control. It reveals the latest images, explores the first groundbreaking science coming back from the comet and asks the astonishing questions that make this mission so captivating. Could Earth's water have come from comets? How do comets survive for so long? Could they have triggered the start of life on Earth?

The journey has been fraught with risk and at every stage the comet seems to surprise, but if the mission succeeds it will be a momentous day in the history of space exploration.


BBC Four - The Sky at Night, Rosetta: A Sky at Night Special

 

[Blackleaf]

Now in its 58th year, the long-running monthly BBC astronomy series The Sky At Night looks at the Rosetta mission.

In this one-hour special, broadcast last night, the show's presenters Chris Lintott and Maggie Aderin-Pocock are at Mission Control in Darmstadt to witness events as they unfolded....

Rosetta: A Sky at Night Special

It is one of the most extraordinary space adventures in a generation - to land a spacecraft on a comet.

The European Space Agency's (ESA) Rosetta spacecraft has been hurtling through space for over 10 years, tracking down a comet called 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Now it is about to do something that has never been attempted before and land a spacecraft on the comet's surface.

This special episode of The Sky at Night puts the viewer right at the heart of the action, witnessing events as they happened from inside mission control. It reveals the latest images, explores the first groundbreaking science coming back from the comet and asks the astonishing questions that make this mission so captivating. Could Earth's water have come from comets? How do comets survive for so long? Could they have triggered the start of life on Earth?

The journey has been fraught with risk and at every stage the comet seems to surprise, but if the mission succeeds it will be a momentous day in the history of space exploration.

Includes interviews with Esa flight director Andrea Accomazzo and Rosetta project scientist Dr Matt Taylor.

Rosetta project scientist Dr Matt Taylor

Watch it here: BBC iPlayer - The Sky at Night - Rosetta: A Sky at Night Special

Sky At Night fact: The show had the same permanent presenter, the legendary Sir Patrick Moore (WWII veteran and a Ukip patron), from its first airing on 24th April 1957 until 7th January 2013, Moore having died on 9th December 2012. This made it the longest-running programme with the same presenter in television history.

 

[Praxius]

It's the way you said "besides, that's probably as close as he ever got to a woman anyways". So you still found a bit of room to attack a person for no good reason.

I think people using purple text to note sarcasm in these forums has reduced their abilities to detect sarcasm without it.

I wasn't attacking him and I know others have said the same thing to me over the years for other reasons. Hell you can say the same thing to me right now and I wouldn't give a crap. I'm also sure he wouldn't give a crap about what I say about him anyways regardless if I was joking or being serious. I am just one amongst billions with an opinion and a comment.

What I don't get is you fascination with trying to defend him so devoutly.

The truth of the matter is that I don't give a crap what he wears and if he wants to wear that shirt, go right ahead. It doesn't diminish his accomplishments.

As I originally said, people will find anything to complain about and lose focus on what really matters, and you focusing on a comment I made in sarcasm to poke fun at those complaining about his shirt is doing exactly that.

Move on and stick to what matters.

 

[Blackleaf]

What I don't get is you fascination with trying to defend him so devoutly.

I should defend him. Twitter and the other social networks are places where the Nasty Left now hang out to bully and harrass anyone they disagree with. The whole Twittersphere is a hornet's nest of vile Left-wingers ready to spout venom and bile of anyone who upsets them.

Just the other week it was singer Ellie Goulding (who appears in the new Band Aid 30 single) who was the object of the Left's venom, when they all rounded on her calling her a "racist" and a "bigot" just because she wore a red Indian costume for a Halloween party.

This time the object of the Left's venom was Mr taylor, again because he wore "objectionable" clothing.

Next week someone else will be the victim of the Left's nastiness.

 

[55Mercury]

I don't know about anyone else, but I have no trouble distinguishing the left side of the @sshole from the left side of the brain.

 

[EagleSmack]

Damn how did they get that thing stuck in a huge dark shadow of a cliff?

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Damn how did they get that thing stuck in a huge dark shadow of a cliff?

British expertise.

 

[spaminator]

Comet team detects organic molecules, basis of life on Earth
Victoria Bryan, REUTERS
First posted: Tuesday, November 18, 2014 01:02 PM EST | Updated: Tuesday, November 18, 2014 02:52 PM EST
BERLIN - European comet lander Philae 'sniffed' organic molecules containing the carbon element that is the basis of life on Earth before its primary battery ran out and it shut down, German scientists said.
They said it was not yet clear whether they included the complex compounds that make up proteins. One of the key aims of the mission is to discover whether carbon-based compounds, and through them, ultimately, life, were brought to early Earth by comets.
Philae landed on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko after a 10-year journey through space aboard the Rosetta spacecraft on a mission to unlock details about how planets and maybe even how life evolved.
It wrapped up its 57-hour mission on the comet's surface on Saturday after radioing back data from a series of experiments as its battery ran out.
Comets date back to the formation of our solar system and have preserved ancient organic molecules like a time capsule.
The COSAC gas analysing instrument on Philae was able to 'sniff' the atmosphere and detect the first organic molecules after landing, the DLR German Aerospace Center said.
The lander also drilled into the comet's surface in its hunt for organic molecules, although it is unclear as yet whether Philae managed to deliver a sample to COSAC for analysis.
Also onboard the lander was the MUPUS tool to measure the density and thermal and mechanical properties of the comet's surface. It showed the comet's surface was not as soft as previously believed.
A thermal sensor was supposed to be hammered around 40 cm into the surface but this did not occur, despite the hammer setting being cranked up to its highest level.
The DLR reckons that after passing through a 10-20 cm thick layer of dust, the sensor hit a layer of material estimated to be as hard as ice.
"It's a surprise. We didn't expect such hard ice on the ground," Tilman Spohn, who leads the MUPUS team at the DLR, said in a statement on Tuesday.
Spohn said MUPUS could be used again if enough sunlight gets through to reload Philae's batteries, which the scientists hope may happen as the comet approaches the sun.
Comet 67P/CG, acquired by the ROLIS instrument on the Philae lander during descent from a distance of approximately 3 km (1.86 miles) from the surface is pictured in this November 12, 2014 European Space Agency (ESA) handout image. The ESA landed the probe on the comet on Wednesday, a first in space exploration and the climax of a decade-long mission to get samples from what are the remnants of the birth of Earth's solar system. REUTERS/ESA/Rosetta/Philae/ROLIS/DLR/Handout

Comet team detects organic molecules, basis of life on Earth | World | News | To

 

[darkbeaver]

"What scientists learn from Rosetta and Philae will re-write the textbooks - of that, there is no doubt"

That's already happened Blackleaf, the comet is solid rock, not a single snowflake on it. It's why the thing bounced, it was built to attach itself to ice, following the dead theory of snowball comets, it was doomed from the beginning.

 

[Blackleaf]

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.

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.

It has not been disclosed which molecules have been found, or how complex they are.

But the results are likely to provide insights into the possible role of comets in contributing some of the chemical building blocks to the primordial mix from which life evolved on the early Earth.


Comet landing: Organic molecules detected by Philae

By Paul Rincon Science editor, BBC News website
18 November 2014

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.

It has not been disclosed which molecules have been found, or how complex they are.

But the results are likely to provide insights into the possible role of comets in contributing some of the chemical building blocks to the primordial mix from which life evolved on the early Earth.

Preliminary results from the Mupus instrument, which deployed a hammer to the comet after Philae's landing, suggest there is a layer of dust 10-20cm thick on the surface with very hard water-ice underneath.

The ice would be frozen solid at temperatures encountered in the outer Solar System - Mupus data suggest this layer has a tensile strength similar to sandstone.

"It's within a very broad spectrum of ice models. It was harder than expected at that location, but it's still within bounds," said Prof Mark McCaughrean, senior science adviser to Esa, told BBC News.

"People will be playing with [mathematical] models of pure water-ice mixed with certain amount of dust."

He explained: "You can't rule out rock, but if you look at the global story, we know the overall density of the comet is 0.4g/cubic cm. There's no way the thing's made of rock.

"It's more likely there's sintered ice at the surface with more porous material lower down that hasn't been exposed to the Sun in the same way."

After bouncing off the surface at least twice, Philae came to a stop in some sort of high-walled trap.

"The fact that we landed up against something may actually be in our favour. If we'd landed on the main surface, the dust layer may have been even thicker and it's possible we might not have gone down [to the ice]," said Prof McCaughrean.

Scientists had to race to perform as many key tests as they could before Philae's battery life ran out at the weekend.

On re-charge

A combination image of several partially enlarged photographs from Rosetta's OSIRIS imaging system released by Esa on Monday shows the journey of Rosetta's Philae lander as it approached and then rebounded from its first touchdown on the comet

A key objective was to drill a sample of "soil" and analyse it in Cosac's oven. But, disappointingly, the latest information suggest no soil was delivered to the instrument.

Prof McCaughrean explained: "We didn't necessarily see many organics in the signal. That could be because we didn't manage to pick up a sample. But what we know is that the drill went down to its full extent and came back up again."

"But there's no independent way to say: This is what the sample looks like before you put it in there."

Scientists are hopeful however that as Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko approaches the Sun in coming months, Philae's solar panels will see sunlight again. This might allow the batteries to re-charge, and enable the lander to perform science once more.

"There's a trade off - once it gets too hot, Philae will die as well. There is a sweet spot," said Prof McCaughrean.

He added: "Given the fact that there is a factor of six, seven, eight in solar illumination and the last action we took was to rotate the body of Philae around to get the bigger solar panel in, I think it's perfectly reasonable to think it may well happen.

"By being in the shadow of the cliff, it might even help us, that we might not get so hot, even at full solar illumination. But if you don't get so hot that you don't overheat, have you got enough solar power to charge the system."

The lander's Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS), designed to provide information on the elemental composition of the surface, seems to have partially seen a signal from its own lens cover - which could have dropped off at a strange angle because Philae was not lying flat.

Follow Paul on Twitter.

BBC News - Comet landing: Organic molecules detected by Philae

"What scientists learn from Rosetta and Philae will re-write the textbooks - of that, there is no doubt"

That's already happened Blackleaf, the comet is solid rock, not a single snowflake on it. It's why the thing bounced, it was built to attach itself to ice, following the dead theory of snowball comets, it was doomed from the beginning.

Do you think that if scientists knew the exact make up of a comet they would spend all that time, money and energy on sending a speceprobe there to find out?

As it happens, you're wrong. Philae has found that the comet's surface is made mainly of water-ice, with a thin layer of dust. It's confirmed the long-held belief that comets are "dirty snowballs."

And the missions has never been doomed. It's been a hugely successful one.

 

[Blackleaf]

How did water come to exist on our planet? Most scientists are of the opinion that it didn't begin here on Earth, instead being transported from elsewhere in the solar system, but whether it came from an asteroid or a comet was a mystery.

That was one of the key questions Esa was hoping the Rosetta mission would solve when it arrived at comet 67P in August and it may now have an answer that could be verified by the Philae lander on the surface.

Using the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis - or Rosina - the spacecraft 'sniffed' the comet's atmosphere as it remained in orbit and analysed its composition.

It found that water in the comet's atmosphere had a different ratio of deuterium-to-hydrogen than water on Earth.

This may be the final nail in the coffin for the theory that comets brought water to Earth - and it may have finally proven that we have asteroids to thank for allowing life on our planet to thrive.


Has Rosetta proved that Earth's water came from ASTEROIDS? Orbiter data suggests comets did not create our seas and oceans

Scientific data returned by Europe's Rosetta orbiter might have proven that Earth's water came from asteroids, not comets
The findings are based on the Rosina instrument, which 'sniffed' gas using a spectrometer on 67P
It found that water there had a different ratio of deuterium-to-hydrogen than water on Earth
Scientists will now be hoping instruments on Rosetta's lander like British-built Ptolemy can confirm or deny the findings
Yesterday it was announced Philae found organic molecules from comet 67P in early data from its instruments
The lander managed to use all ten of its instruments on the comet before its primary battery died
Esa is analysing scientific data gathered by the Philae probe after its 'successful' comet landing
Philae made three historic touchdowns on 67P on Wednesday, making it the first craft to land on a comet​

By Jonathan O'Callaghan and Ellie Zolfagharifard and Rachel Reilly and Mark Prigg for MailOnline
19 November 2014


How did water come to exist on our planet? Most scientists are of the opinion that it didn't begin here on Earth, instead being transported from elsewhere in the solar system, but whether it came from an asteroid or a comet was a mystery.

That was one of the key questions Esa was hoping the Rosetta mission would solve when it arrived at comet 67P in August and it may now have an answer that could be verified by the Philae lander on the surface.

Using the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis - or Rosina - the spacecraft 'sniffed' the comet's atmosphere as it remained in orbit and analysed its composition.

It found that water in the comet's atmosphere had a different ratio of deuterium-to-hydrogen than water on Earth.

This may be the final nail in the coffin for the theory that comets brought water to Earth - and it may have finally proven that we have asteroids to thank for allowing life on our planet to thrive.

Data from an instrument on the Rosetta orbiter has suggested that asteroids, not comets, are the origin of water on Earth. It is hoped that the findings can be confirmed by the Philae lander on the surface (artist's illustration shown)

COULD GAS RESURRECT PHILAE?

The increasing amount of sunlight may serve another purpose besides charging Philae's dead battery.

As the comet warms, it releases jets of gas, which could potentially hoist Philae out of its ditch.

'It could be a natural way that it gets lifted up,' former Rosetta manager Gerhard Schwehm said at a teleconferenced NASA science advisory panel meeting in Washington, D.C.

'If a little activity starts there, then the chance that it comes off is fairly high.'

All of the deuterium and hydrogen in the universe was made just after the Big Bang about 13.7 billion years ago, making their ratio important.

The ratio of the two in water varies from location to location depending on when the water formed, and so by comparing the ratio found in extra-terrestrial objects to Earth’s water, it’s hoped the ration can be found.

Water molecules are thought to have been part of the disc of dust and gas that ultimately formed the sun and its planets, but Earth began as a hot molten rock that would have been inhospitable to water early in its life up to 3.8 billion years ago.

The preferred theory is that an asteroid or a comet - both of which have ice in various quantities - crashed to Earth and delivered water when our planet was a more moderate temperature.

In November 2010, Nasa’s Deep Impact spacecraft flew past a comet called Hartley 2 and collected samples that indicated its water had a similar composition to Earth, but in recent years the asteroid theory has been favoured.

And now the latest results from Rosetta could confirm an asteroids as our origin.

The initial findings were hinted at by Rosina principle investigator Dr Kathrin Altwegg of the University of Bern, reports Science.

‘Altwegg says the result for 67P could make asteroids the primary suspect again, writes Eric Hand.

Further studies of the data will be needed to confirm the finding and they may be hiding in the scientific data returned by the Philae lander, particularly its Ptolemy instrument.

Ptolemy is a gas analyser that was used to measure ratios of isotopes such as hydrogen, carbon and oxygen.

The news comes as the Philae team revealed some of the first science that had been returned by the lander yesterday.

Esa released early scientific data from the Philae lander, revealing not only organic molecules on comet 67P but also the structure and composition of the comet as well.

The data returned from the Cosac (Cometary Sampling and Composition Experiment) instrument showed that the comet has an organic compound containing carbon - an important progenitor for life as we know it.

It was also announced that the surface of the comet was far harder than researchers had expected. Before Philae's battery died they were also able to form a 3D mapping mission of the comet's interior using the Rosetta spacecraft.

Rosetta's lander captivated the world by landing on the surface of a comet last week, but went into hibernation mode late on Friday when its primary battery ran out of power.

However, scientists also said they are 'very confident' it will wake up again when the comet moves into an orbit where more sunlight hits its solar panels in a few months - and one Nasa expert even thinks a jet of gas from the comet could move it sooner.

Further analysis of the various scientific data returned by Philae will be needed before any firm conclusions can be drawn.

But the tentative discovery of organic molecules by Cosac is certainly promising.

It's also unclear to what extent Philae's drill was able to penetrate the surface, and whether or not it was able to get a sample back to the lander for analysis - however there have been some suggestions that it failed to do so.

This was one of the first pictures return by Philae from the surface of comet 67P. Yesterday scientists said they are 'very confident' it will 'wake up' when the comet moves into an orbit where more sunlight hits is solar panels in a few months

Illustrated here are the various scientific instruments on the Philae lander that were used to study the comet when attached to the surface

Before going into hibernation at 00:36 GMT on 15 November 2014, the Philae lander was able to conduct some work using power supplied by its primary battery.

With its 10 instruments, the mini laboratory sniffed the atmosphere, drilled, hammered and studied Comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko while over 500 million kilometres from Earth.

It was controlled and monitored from the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt; DLR) Lander Control Center (LCC). Now, the complicated data analysis begins.

DLR's Scientific Director for the project, Ekkehard Kührt, said the team were pleased with the results.

'We have collected a great deal of valuable data, which could only have been acquired through direct contact with the comet,' he said.

'Together with the measurements performed by the Rosetta orbiter, we are well on our way to achieving a greater understanding of comets. Their surface properties appear to be quite different than was previously thought.'

The team responsible for the Mupus (Multi-Purpose Sensors for Surface and Sub-Surface Science) instrument, which hammered a probe into the comet, estimates that Comet 67P is hard as ice: 'Although the power of the hammer was gradually increased, we were not able to go deep into the surface,' said Tilman Spohn from the DLR Institute of Planetary Research, who is leading the research team.

'67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko proved to be a "tough nut to crack."'

Only the thermal sensors and accelerometers in the anchors that should have fixed Philae to the comet's surface were not used, because they were not deployed during the touchdown.

The team of the SESAME experiment (Surface Electrical, Seismic and Acoustic Monitoring Experiment) also confirmed that Churyumov-Gerasimenko is not nearly as soft and fluffy as it was believed to be.

'The strength of the ice founds under a layer of dust on the first landing site is surprisingly high,' says Klaus Seidensticker from the DLR Institute of Planetary Research.

The instrument Casse, which sits in the feet of the lander, was turned on during the descent and clearly registered the first landing as Philae came into contact with the comet.

From additional data, the mechanical properties of Churyumov-Gerasimenko will be derived.

Two other instruments suggest that cometary activity at this landing site is low, as well as revealing the presence of a large amount of water ice under the lander.

The last of the 10 instruments on board the Philae lander to be activated was the Sampling, Drilling and Distribution (SD2) subsystem, which was designed to provide soil samples for the Cosac and Ptolemy instruments.

It is certain that the drill was activated, as were all the steps to transport the sample to the appropriate oven.

Cosac also worked as planned.

Now scientists need to analyse the data to determine whether a soil sample was actually examined in the gas chromatograph - but unfortunately this does not look likely at the moment.

Overall, the team say they are now confident they will hear form the probe again.

'I'm very confident that Philae will resume contact with us and that we will be able to operate the instruments again,' said DLR Lander Project Manager Stephan Ulamec.

The increasing amount of sunlight may serve another purpose besides charging Philae's dead battery.

As the comet warms, it releases jets of gas, which could potentially hoist Philae out of its ditch.

'It could be a natural way that it gets lifted up,' former Rosetta manager Gerhard Schwehm said at a teleconferenced NASA science advisory panel meeting in Washington, D.C.

'If a little activity starts there, then the chance that it comes off is fairly high.'

Gravity on the comet's small body is about 100,000 times less than Earth's, giving Philae the relative weight of a piece of paper.

'Perhaps it was good that (Philae) didn't fire the harpoons because if they would not have penetrated you might have had a much bigger problem,' he said.

Early results from the ongoing Rosetta mission are expected to be released next month at the American Geophysical Union conference in San Francisco.

WHAT INSTRUMENTS DOES PHILAE HAVE AND WHAT DID THEY DO?

Rosetta's probe, Philae,has ten instruments onboard. All instruments were deployed in the mission.

APXS: The 'Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer' is designed to study the chemical composition of the landing site and track any potential changes during the comet's approach to the sun.

Civa: This stands for 'Comet Nucleus Infrared and Visible Analyser'. The instrument is made up of six cameras and is able to take take panoramic pictures of the comet surface.

Consert: The 'Comet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radiowave Transmission' studies the internal structure of the comet.

Cosac: An instrument used to detect and identify complex organic moleculed. Cosac stands for 'Cometary Sampling and Composition.'

Ptolemy: This British-built instrument is used to understand the geochemistry of light elements, such as hydrogen, carbon, nitrogen and oxygen.

Mupus: The 'Multi-purpose Sensors for Surface and Sub-Surface Science' instrument studies the properties of the comet surface and sub-surface.

Rolis: The 'Rosetta Lander Imaging System' provided some of the the first close-up images of the landing site

Romap: Philae's 'Rosetta Lander Magnetometer and Plasma Monitor' is designed to study the magnetic field and plasma environment of the comet

SD2: This is the lander's drill, and was deployed on Friday in order to collect material from the comet for analysis

Sesame: The 'Surface Electric Sounding and Acoustic Monitoring Experiment' looks at the electrical parameters of the comet.


Once the rechargeable secondary battery has been warmed by sunlight again, Philae will restart and the DLR LCC team will take their places at the control consoles again.

'At the first landing site, we would, of course, have had better solar illumination conditions,' says Ulamec.

'Now we are somewhat in shadow, we will need more time to charge.'

One advantage of the shadier landing site in a crater is that the Philae lander will not overheat as quickly as the comet approaches the Sun, but will benefit from the stronger sunlight.

The team managed to rotate the lander during the night of 14/15 November 2014, so that the largest solar panel is now aligned towards the Sun.

Stephan Ulamec believes it is probable that in the spring of 2015, the DLR LCC will once again communicate with Philae and receive data about how the lander is faring on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

This incredible series of images shows Philae first's bounce on the surface of comet 67P at the initial landing site, named Agilkia. The times are in GMT. The first four images show the moments leading up to the first landing on the surface, and the final image in the top right shows the direction the probe went in after its first bounce - and scientists are hoping to spot its final resting place in later images

In the summer of 2015, it might be possible that temperatures on the comet will allow Philae's battery to be recharged. 'The orbiter will continue with its overflights to receive any signals from the lander once Philae wakes up from hibernation.'

Of the numerous instruments used by the lander, one was designed to measure the temperature of the comet while a drill was used to collect samples and analyse them.

After a successful manouevre to rotate the largest solar panel out of the shadow of the cliff the probe is wedged against, scientists said there is a chance the probe might wake up again in a few months when the comet is closer to the sun and more sunlight is available.

On Friday, scientists made contact with Rosetta's lander for the last time and managed to turn it towards the sun after using its drill in a last gasp attempt to charge its batteries.

Controllers hope that by exposing one of the larger solar panels to the meagre sunlight that is falling on one of the smaller ones, they can provide enough power to charge its batteries.

They now face an agonising wait to see if, and when, it wakes up. The probe is thought to be resting at an angle in the shadow of a crater wall more than half a mile from its planned landing site.

This incredible image shows the moment the Philae lander bounced off the surface for the first time, on its way to a height of 0.62 miles (1km), before returning to the surface of the comet and bouncing again

Ullanec confirmed the lander was able to send all of its data back to Earth before it 'died' - and celebrated with champagne as the rover's battery power slowly ebbed away.

'Philae has fallen into 'idle mode' - a possibly long silence. In this mode, all instruments and most systems on board are shut down,' the European Space Agency said on its blog in a post entitled Our Lander's Asleep.

The lander's Twitter feed broke the news of its demise, saying: 'I'm feeling a bit tired, did you get all my data? I might take a nap…' - but then added 'I did it! I became the first spacecraft to land on a comet & study it! But it's not over yet…'

They also revealed they had spotted the lander's first landing site, which was captured in images from Rosetta - but still were not sure where it had ended up after two more 'bounces'.

'The rotation of the lander's body could result in more power if one of the larger solar panels can catch the illumination that is falling on the smaller,' said Esa's Mark McCaughrean, senior science advisor.

'All things being equal, the same amount of sunlight falling on a larger panel should result in more power being generated.'

Philae was thought to be partially in darkness beneath a cliff and, crucially, its largest solar panel was not receiving any sunlight.

This means its secondary battery could not be properly charged unless it was rotated after its primary battery ran out of power - which scientists managed to perform before the main battery died.

The probe landed on the comet at around 3.30pm GMT on Wednesday but then bounced twice - first to a height of 0.62 miles (1km) and then to a much lower height of 65ft (20 metres) before coming to rest.

It is also thought to be about 0.62 miles (1km) from its intended landing site.

Scientists described the ground as being more like a 'trampoline' than rock, owing to its soft and powdery texture, which may have caused the unsteady landing of the probe.

The final approach: This image shows comet 67P/CG from a distance of approximately 1.8 miles (3km) from the surface. Philae is now thought to be on the surface but its exact orientation is unknown. It bounced twice before coming to rest

HOW DO ROSETTA AND ITS LANDER PHILAE SEND IMAGES BACK TO EARTH?

Despite being more than 310 million miles (500 million km) from Earth, Rosetta and Philae are sending back vital data and images using radio waves.

The transmissions are relayed through Rosetta's radio equipment and travel at the speed of light - almost 186,400 miles/300,000km per second.

However, because Earth is so far away it takes around half an hour for the signals to be received by mission control in Darmstadt, Germany.

Complex antennae are required to pick up space radio frequency communications as the signals are relatively weak by the time they arrive on Earth.

For comparison, the distance between Rosetta and Earth is around than three times the distance between the Earth and the sun.

The Philae lander doesn't have as much radio equipment as it only needs to send data to Rosetta 12.4 miles (20km) away.

When it needs to send data back or receive commands from mission control, the signals are relayed through the Rosetta spacecraft.

On Wednesday, British scientist Dr Matt Taylor, who played a key role in the mission, said: 'To see this mountaineering effort, that we've descended a lander to the surface of a comet, I can't put words to it. It's beautiful.'

And the expert was so confident of success that he had even had an image of the space probe tattooed on his right leg.

Before the attempt on Wednesday, there was also a good luck message from a man who had once boasted of boldly going into space himself.

Star Trek actor William Shatner sent the team a video in which the 83-year-old said: 'Good luck Rosetta, Philae's gonna land.'

Rosetta has also been aiming to work out the plasma characteristics of the comet (illustrated)

PHILAE'S LANDING IS A MAJOR STEP FOR HUMANITY TO 'MOVE OFF THIS PLANET', SAYS NASA CHIEF

The historic touchdown of Philae on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko could be big step toward 'moving off this planet' and 'taking' the entire solar system.

This is according to Nasa's planetary science head, Jim Green, who said the solar system is now in reach of wider human exploration.

The space agency is hoping to send humans to Mars in the 2030s, and data from Rosetta's mission could help make that a reality by revealing more planets in our solar system.

'How audacious! How exciting!' Green said, after the landing was made. 'The solar system is mankind's - this mission is the first step to take it.

'It's ours… It's these steps that will lead us beyond this planet and on to Mars and out into the solar system.'

'I truly believe that a single planet species will not survive long. It's our destiny to move off this planet.'

Nasa described yesterday's landing as 'a great day for space exploration.'

'We congratulate Esa on their successful landing on a comet today,' said John Grunsfeld.

'This achievement represents a breakthrough moment in the exploration of our solar system and a milestone for international cooperation.'

Scientists hope that samples drilled out from the comet will unlock details about how the planets - and possibly even life - evolved.

Comets date back to the formation of the solar system some 4.5 billion years ago. Scientists suspect impacting comets delivered water to early Earth.

One scientist then described the seven hours of 'terror' they went through to drop the Philae lander 13.6 miles (21.9km) above the comet from its mothership, Rosetta.

Dr Matthew Genge, of Imperial College London, said during the wait: 'This is the most difficult landing in space history - like landing a balloon in a city centre on a windy day with your eyes closed.'

Much of the equipment aboard the lander was switched on for the first time after lying dormant during the ten-year journey.

Klim Churyumov, one of the Ukrainians who discovered the comet 45 years ago and named it, said from mission control in Darmstadt, Germany: 'We saw the first light from this comet in 1969, now we are landing on it. It is a fantastic, outstanding event, the first like it in human civilization.'

New address: The lander announced its arrival on Twitter with this historic tweet for its ten year mission. Throughout this week, mission control have been communicating Philae's status through social networks as the world awaits news of its battery life

WHAT IS THE MIDAS INSTRUMENT?

The Midas instrument on Philae is designed to study the dust particles flung from the comet

Midas is the Micro-Imaging Dust Analysis System. It is designed to study the dust particles flung from the comet as it is heated by the sun and becomes active.

When comets pass through the inner solar system, the ices buried below their dark surface are gradually heated. As this gas streams away from the comet's surface, it drags along dust particles – themselves tiny pieces of rock, ice and organic material.

Sunlight reflected from billions of such particles result in the beautiful dust tails seen from Earth on particle population, size, volume and shape.

Midas is one of several instruments that will study cometary dust. To collect particles Midas has a funnel, which usually points towards the comet.

Behind this is a wheel with sticky targets mounted around its circumference. After dust has been collected, the wheel is rotated to move the dust to the microscope for analysis.

By scanning over the dust grain, line by line, scientists can build a 3D picture. Knowing the size, shape and structure of these particles tells us about how and where these particles formed.

These particles are remnants of when the solar system formed 4.5 billion years ago and could reveal how planets formed, and perhaps on life came to be on Earth.

Ptolemy, a British-built laboratory the size of a shoebox, will be used to analyse the composition of samples from the 4.5 billion-year-old comet.

Scientists hope the £1 billion (US$1.6 billion) project will solve some of the greatest puzzles in science - including the origins of life on Earth.

Open University Professor Ian Wright, who helped create Ptolemy, said: 'The idea that comets may have brought the building blocks of life to Earth is one of the reasons why we want to study them.'

Professor Stanley Cowley, planetary scientist at the University of Leicester, added: 'It is an interesting relic from that otherwise inaccessible epoch.'

'It's complicated to land on a comet, and complicated to understand what has happened during this landing,' said Dr Stefan Ulamec, Philae Lander Manager.

Rosetta has chased comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko through space for more than ten years in what has been described as 'the sexiest, most fantastic mission ever'

LA vs 67P: This image combines a photograph of Los Angeles with an image from the Rosetta spacecraft rendezvousing with Churyumov-Gerasimenko, prior to going into orbit and eventually landing. The comet is around 2.2 by 2.5 miles

Read more: Has Rosetta proven Earth's water came from ASTEROIDS? | Daily Mail Online
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook

 

[Anamentia]

That shocks me. I always cant believe, we could have so many successes in space area.

 

[Blackleaf]

Is this the first true-colour image of Rosetta's comet? Stunning shot of 67P suggests it may be RED rather than 'charcoal black'



What appears to be the first 'true-colour image' of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko has been revealed by Rosetta scientists. And in a surprising twist, rather than being the 'charcoal black' that Esa expected, the image suggests the ancient comet is in fact a dusty red. Up until now, most of the spectacular images of the comet seen by the public have been taken by Rosetta's Navcam, which can only take images in the grey-scale. But the latest image, which is being described as 'true-colour' by Redditors , reveals what the comet would look like if it was to be viewed by the naked eye. The image, originally shared by Reddit, is due to be released at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco on December 15.

Rosetta comet image suggests it may be RED rather than 'charcoal black' | Daily Mail Online

*******************************************************

British scientists say they detected what might be complex carbon compounds on the surface of the comet that European lander Philae landed on two weeks ago.

The results are from the British-built Ptolemy instrument, which is a miniaturised on-board laboratory.

The detection of carbon supports a view that comets may have brought key chemicals to Earth to kick-start life.

The team leader, Prof Ian Wright, told BBC News: "We can say with absolute certainty that we saw a very large signal of what are basically organic (carbon) compounds."


Comet landing: UK team's data bonanza from Philae

By Pallab Ghosh, Science correspondent, BBC News
26 November


UK Researchers received "rich" data from the Philae lander just before its power died.

Scientists peer through the glass at a monitor (below) showing Philae's dwindling power levels

Scientists say they detected what might be complex carbon compounds on the surface of the comet the craft landed on two weeks ago.

The results are from the British-built Ptolemy instrument, which is a miniaturised on-board laboratory.

The detection of carbon supports a view that comets may have brought key chemicals to Earth to kick-start life.

The team leader, Prof Ian Wright, told BBC News: "We can say with absolute certainty that we saw a very large signal of what are basically organic (carbon) compounds.

"There is a rich signal there. It is not simple. It is not like there are two compounds; there are clearly a lot of things there - a lot of peaks. Sometimes a complicated compound can give a lot of peaks."

The "peaks" refer to the graph produced by the Ptolemy instrument of the different molecules it detected. The result is in line with initial observations made by a similar German-led instrument on Philae.

In an exclusive interview with BBC News, Prof Wright explained that Ptolemy had gathered huge amounts of scientific data. Normally a quiet, understated man, he was marginally better at containing his enthusiasm than his co-worker and wife, Prof Monica Grady, who jumped for and then wept with joy and relief when Philae landed.

Prof Wright told me: "I am as excited now as I was a couple of weeks ago. It's tremendous!"

Tense moments as the Ptolemy team waits to see how much of data will be streamed back from Philae

"For years, I've been giving public lectures about what we plan to do. Now we have some data and it's: Wow! This is what scientists do this stuff for."

Much of the data gathered by Ptolemy was collected on the fly. Shortly after the Rosetta spacecraft was activated in January, Prof Wright and his team saw the opportunity to analyse the comet's tail as the spacecraft approached.

"It is not something we had planned to do, but it became obvious that it was something we could do."

The early data suggests that the composition of the gases changed as the spacecraft got closer to the comet.

Prof Wright also explained that Philae's bouncy landing suited his experiment. Among Ptolemy's capabilities is the ability to analyse gases and particles around it, and so it was pre-programmed to sniff its environment shortly after landing.

Pictures from Rosetta show that the first landing created a dust cloud, providing Ptolemy with a feast of data.

An heroic demise for the little lander. With its last ounce of strength, Philae sent back precious data

But Philae's bouncy landing and eventual resting place in the shade meant that it would not be able to recharge its solar powered batteries. The Ptolemy team had a few hours to rethink its scientific programme and upload a much curtailed set of experiments to the instrument.

Fuelled by the drama of the landing, and feeling the weight of history on their shoulders, all the various Philae instrument teams spent the night feverishly working to make the best use of the precious few days of operating life that the lander had left.

The hardest moment for the Philae team was having to abandon plans to analyse material drilled from underneath the comet's surface. Overall, programme managers deemed that there was only sufficient battery power to drill for one sample, rather than two as was originally planned. A collective decision was therefore made that any sample should be analysed by the German-led COSAC instrument - not Ptolemy.

Philae should tell us what comets are made from, and what happened at the dawn of the Solar System

It is unclear whether the drill successfully managed to get a sample to COSAC.

But mission planners did grant the UK team Philae's last ounce of strength to operate Ptolemy's oven, to heat up all the debris that had collected inside the instrument to 200C and analyse the gases that came off.

Prof Wright confirms that this experiment was successfully carried out and that the results could give an indication of the composition of the carbon and nitrogen on the comet. These results may in turn help piece together what happened in the early years of the Solar System when the planets were forming.

The team wishes that Ptolemy could have carried out its full mission, but Prof Wright says the group is delighted with the results it has obtained. It also has the optimistic possibility of Philae coming back to life in the weeks ahead as the comet moves closer to the Sun and lighting conditions improve at the landing site.

"If you ask me whether we have done all we could have done, the answer is 'no'. But I remain optimistic that the thing may come back to life and we will get the chance to do those things," he said.

BBC News - Comet landing: UK team's data bonanza from Philae

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Philae should tell us what comets are made from, and what happened at the dawn of the Solar System

Because the composition of one comet can, of course, be attributed to all comets.

The Beeb is typical of British scientific literacy.

 

[Blackleaf]

Because the composition of one comet can, of course, be attributed to all comets.

The Beeb is typical of British scientific literacy.

Of course. You're a renowned expert on comets.

 

[spaminator]

Rosetta shows Earth's water did not come from comets
Irene Klotz, REUTERS
First posted: Wednesday, December 10, 2014 03:00 PM EST | Updated: Wednesday, December 10, 2014 03:10 PM EST
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Early results from Europe's Rosetta spacecraft challenge a long-held theory that comets delivered water to early Earth, a study released on Wednesday shows.
Chemical analysis of water coming from Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which Rosetta has been orbiting since August, shows it has three times more deuterium - an atomic variation of regular hydrogen - as hydrogen in water molecules on Earth, said Rosetta scientist Kathrin Altwegg, with the University of Bern.
Water is comprised of two hydrogen atoms bonded with one oxygen atom. On Earth, three in 10,000 water molecules have the heavy hydrogen isotope deuterium.
Unless 67P is a total oddball, Altwegg said the finding eliminates comets as the source of Earth's water - and most likely its organics as well.
Both water and carbon compounds were needed for life to evolve.
The finding leaves asteroids as Earth's probable water bearers, though the mini-planets that bombarded baby Earth likely bore little resemblance to the dry, rocky bodies circling the sun beyond Mars today.
"Asteroids could well have had much more water than they have today," Altwegg said. "They have just lived in the vicinity of the sun for 4.6 billion years."
Comet 67P hails from the Kuiper Belt region of the solar system, located beyond Neptune's orbit 30 to 40 times farther from the sun than Earth.
Three years ago, analysis of water in another Kuiper Belt comet showed a chemical fingerprint that matched Earth's water. The measurements from 67P, however, are so much higher that even if only a few comets of its type smashed into Earth, Earth's deuterium ratio would not be what it is today, Altwegg said.
Previous studies had dismissed comets from even farther out in the solar system, a region called the Oort Cloud, as the source of Earth's water.
Also on Wednesday, scientists said the search for Rosetta's companion probe, Philae, continues.
Philae made an unprecedented descent to the surface of the comet on Nov. 12, bounced twice and settled in what appears to be a crater. It ran through 2-1/2 days of preprogrammed science experiments before its battery died.
Results of the studies, which include chemical analysis of samples drilled out from the comet's body, have not yet been released.
In August, Rosetta became the first spacecraft to put itself in orbit around a comet. It will continue to accompany 67P for about another year.
Rosetta shows Earth's water did not come from comets | SPACE | World | News | To

 

[spaminator]

Fingers Crossed For Comet Lander Philae To Wake Up Again
Fingers Crossed For Comet Lander Philae To Wake Up Again
May 7, 2015 23:16
From Newsy
Fingers Crossed For Comet Lander Philae To Wake Up Again : philae : Search Videos

 

[spaminator]

Philae comet lander wakes up after seven-month hibernation
Thomas Atkins, Reuters
First posted: Sunday, June 14, 2015 10:05 AM EDT | Updated: Sunday, June 14, 2015 02:23 PM EDT
FRANKFURT - A robotic space lander has surprised scientists by waking up and sending a signal to Earth, seven months after straying into the shadows of a comet where they feared it might be marooned for ever.
The European Space Agency said on Sunday that it had received signals from the lander, named Philae, late on Thursday, when it began "speaking" with its team on the ground for the first time since it went into emergency hibernation following a botched landing on the comet in November.
Scientists believe the space probe is receiving increasing amounts of sunlight as the comet speeds closer to the sun, enabling its solar panels to produce the power needed for it to send data.
"There's great excitement about it being back," ESA senior science adviser Mark McCaughrean told Reuters by telephone. "But we have to make sure it's not the last croak of a dying cowboy."
In the shadows, Philae's solar panels, which were meant to power the probe after its batteries ran out several days after landing, received far less than the expected six to seven hours sunshine per day. It went into hibernation on Nov. 15.
After reawakening, Philae "spoke" for 85 seconds with its team on the ground via its mothership Rosetta, which is orbiting the comet at a distance of about 6.5 km (4 miles). Analysis of the detailed data suggests the lander had been awake earlier but unable to make contact, ESA said.
"It's very fascinating and we're all very happy to have received this signal," project manager Stephan Ulamec told Reuters by phone. "The lander seems to be perfectly healthy."
Philae's official Twitter account also came back to life on Sunday, tweeting: "Hello Earth! Can you hear me?"
Scientists hope that samples drilled from the roughly 3-by-5 km comet by Philae will unlock details about how the planets - and possibly even life - evolved. The rock and ice that make up comets preserve ancient organic molecules like a time capsule.
The lander was released from Rosetta in November after a 6.4 billion km journey that took more than 10 years - a mission that cost close to 1.4 billion euros ($1.8 billion).
But harpoons to anchor Philae to the surface failed to deploy and it bounced twice before floating to rest two hours later. Scientists scoured the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko for months in the hope that the lander would revive.
The mood at ESA shot from despondency to "unalloyed joy" when the first signal arrived, triggering a flurry of midnight e-mails and emergency meetings among scientists keen to see what Philae would reveal, said McCaughrean.
The challenge now is to assess the state of the lander itself, with scientists waiting for the next contact. There are still more than 8,000 data packets in Philae's mass memory that will provide information on what happened in the past few days, ESA said.
Comets date back to the formation of the solar system some 4.6 billion years ago. Some scientists suspect comets delivered water to Earth when they collided with the planet aeons ago.
"Comets are treasure chests of material from the birth of the solar system," McCaughrean said.
Scientists must now race to extract as much data from the comet as possible before its orbit takes it back away from the sun in several months' time and towards the outer reaches of the solar system.
At that point, the mother ship Rosetta will have burned most of its fuel. Unable to manoeuvre, scientists are likely to let it spiral slowly towards the comet's surface, making an increasingly detailed analysis from above until it comes to rest and loses contact with the Earth.
Philae comet lander wakes up after seven-month hibernation | World | News | Toro

 

[spaminator]

Woken up comet transmissions show "only good things"
ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Wednesday, June 17, 2015 07:34 AM EDT | Updated: Wednesday, June 17, 2015 07:44 AM EDT
LE BOURGET, France -- European scientists are confident they'll soon be able to start experiments on the surface of a speeding comet after a spacecraft lost for months on its surface suddenly "woke up" this week.
Barbara Cozzoni, lander control centre engineer for the German Eerospace Center, told reporters at the International Paris Air Show that information gleaned from the Philae lander's brief transmissions on June 13 and 14 had begun to be deciphered.
She says scientists got "only good things," adding all four of Philae's solar panels are collecting energy and the spacecraft's internal temperature was in the correct range.
Mark McCaughrean, a senior ESA adviser, says scientists need a stable communications link with the spacecraft to begin experiments not just about the comet but about the origins of life on Earth.
Flight engineers work in the main control room of the European Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany, in this file picture taken January 20, 2014. The Philae lander space probe thought lost has woken up some seven months after officials thought it marooned in the shadows of a comet, the European Space Agency said on June 14, 2015. REUTERS/Ralph Orlowski/Files

Woken up comet transmissions show "only good things" | World | News | Toronto Su