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10 minutes until Roseaat / Philae sparation...

Jonk

By Jonk
in The Astro Lounge

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Treeden

Treeden

Posted
Posted

All is not well.... just yet.

Apparently the anchors didn't fire and the lander may not be firmly attached to the surface.  They are considering a 2nd attempt to fire the anchors.

The good news is that the landing was softer than expected, with only a 4cm contraction of the suspension legs.

More will follow soon I'm sure....

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KevUU

KevUU

Posted
Posted

But as long as it's sitting comfortably it should be ok shouldn't it? I'm guessing sampling may be a problem though?

It sounds like they're not really sure. With such low gravity it may be hard to sit comfortably without restraint?

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Alveprinsen

Alveprinsen

Posted
Posted

I believe they got confirmation that that harpoons did fire.

First they said they werent sure... then there were a few speakers etc. then they switched to some guy... somewhere... and he said the harpoons had fired, and shortly after they showed some pictures taken from the lander looking up at the orbiter - at which time someone on the livestream commented that it looked as if the lander was secured onto the comet.

I guess we will know for absolutely sure within a few hours or so though...

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Treeden

Treeden

Posted
Posted

Strange indeed.  Just after the initial confirmation of touchdown, the FD said the anchors had fired and then retracted.  Of course they only have sensor data, so it might mean that they fired but didn't penetrate, and then the automatic retraction (to take up the slack) would just have wound the cable back into the drum without the harpoons being attached to the surface?

Strange to have no confirmation about the foot screws... still it's early and I'm sure there will be another update before too long.

Fingers still crossed...

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Robp

Robp

Posted
Posted

from the BBC feed:

17:25

Emily also reports that Mark McCaughrean, Esa's senior science adviser, has confirmed the lander's screws - if not its harpoons - have dug into the comet's surface.

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Laurie61

Laurie61

Posted
Posted

From New scientist - 

12/11/2014 16:59

The telemetry link with Philae, which uploads the all-important science data, is also unstable. Right now ESA is prioritising stabilising the link rather than working to secure the craft to the comet - if they lose the link, they get no data, no pictures, nothing. In a worst-case scenario, it is better to gather a few scraps of data before Philae floats away from the surface of 67P. It's important to note that we aren't at that stage yet.

12/11/2014 17:15

I've just spoke with Paolo Ferri, head of mission operations here in Darmstadt. He says the unstable telemetry is not concerning, but it does need addressing. In about two hours time, ESA will need to move Rosetta, which will break the link with Philae in any case. This was always planned, but with the link currently unstable, it could cause problems.

He also says that Philae might be moving around on the comet's surface, perhaps even sliding, but it is unlikely to bounce off, which is some relief. "Frankly, given it has been on the surface for a few hours now, I would be very surprised," he says.

Even with the dodgy data link, he thinks we are still on course for the first photo from the surface in the next hour or so.

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KevUU

KevUU

Posted
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Hmmm... Supposedly the escape velocity is 1m/sec (compared to earth's 11km/sec).

So roughly a factor of 10,000x (But whatever that might mean in practice?!?)

They still seem to be claiming it is attached... No one sneeze, maybe? ;)

1m/s is about 2.3mph. I don't know what the landing velocity was though.

Earth escape velocity is nearly 25,000mph!

(Now a moot point I guess, with reports of the floor screws working properly)

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dementedgr

dementedgr

Posted
Posted

"Revenge for all those comets landing on earth has been given at last!"

#CometLanding

One of the epic comments on Tweeter!  :p  :p  :p 

Seriously though, amazing achievement, hard for the mind to grasp the amount of accomplishment!

​After 10 years & billions of km of traveling, to land on something practically massless, 1/2 billion km away traveling at 135.000km/h, well I call that a win eh?

Congratulations to everyone involved is the least I can say!

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