Images from Philae's onboard camera

[symesie04]

I think if you look at the first image again its quite clear the object is between the camera and the landers foot above it so really dont see how its "quite a way from it".  Ithink its beyond doubt its part of the lander and really have no doubt the lander is on a comet 3 billion miles from earth.

[SkySurfer]

So thought on what this is, there is no evidence of you look closely that this was a harpoon as there is no trauma to the rock where it enters, it really looks like the rock has formed around it ......how is that possible

SS

[Ptarmigan]

If that is the leg in the air

where ?!

[SkySurfer]

I think if you look at the first image again its quite clear the object is between the camera and the landers foot above it so really dont see how its "quite a way from it".  Ithink its beyond doubt its part of the lander and really have no doubt the lander is on a comet 3 billion miles from earth.

It's actually 4 billion mile or 6.4 billion Km, not 3 billion

SS

[SkySurfer]

It was also stated by the ESA that the harpoons never fired, and that was one of there concerns, it was only being held by the drills on the feet anchoring down, so it can't be any sort of anchoring wire.......I love this...very intriguing

SS

[Laurie61]

That is most definitely a very tightly pulled rope or steel cable or rebar.... But whichever it is, it has nothing to do with the craft.... As that is quite a way from it, I find that very strange indeed

Doesn't anyone else think that is odd, I hope these aren't pictures from a mock site here on earth somewhere, like people though about the moon landings......

Thoughts please

SS

The image is from the esa site, from the link,  the wire/ cable looks to finish by the rock and goes back towards the lander ? Looking at the orientation of the feet it looks to be projecting at a similar angle, coming out the side of craft. ? 

[gkec]

That is most definitely a very tightly pulled rope or steel cable or rebar.... But whichever it is, it has nothing to do with the craft.... As that is quite a way from it, I find that very strange indeed

Doesn't anyone else think that is odd, I hope these aren't pictures from a mock site here on earth somewhere, like people though about the moon landings......

Thoughts please

SS

It appears to be  a very tightly pulled rope or steel cable or rebar  As it is a comet that is known to eject stuff on approach to the Sun  who knows what rock formations can be created.

[symesie04]

Well first off i quoted miles not KM. The comet and therefore Rosetta currently reside 3.17 billion miles away. 6.4 billion miles is the total distance traveled by Rosetta to reach the comet.

[Laurie61]

This image shows where the lander is in relation to the wire.

[gkec]

It's actually 4 billion mile or 6.4 billion Km, not 3 billion

SS

It's 500 million km between Earth and Rosetta at this time.  Get your facts right before criticising other posters.

[mercboyan]

I think it's called the consert antenna. Not sure what it is, though.

Here is Emily Lakdawalla diagram of the panorama (including that image).

https://twitter.com/elakdawalla/status/532970147716538371

Is this a Harpoon cable or something else ?

[Ptarmigan]

When I was young and designing telemetry/telecoms systems for spacecraft there were two requirements :

(1) a low data rate maintainance system needing an omnidirectional antenna for telecommand impervious to spacecraft orientation

(2) a high data rate science link usually needing a narrow beam ( large dish) after the spacecraft was stabilised (see Giotto de-spun dish, but that was to communicate high data between Halley and Earth, a considerable distance )

For Philae at relatively close range to Rosetta I guess an omni would be optimum. A frequent design is given the moniker of 'Turnstile', 4 orthogonal wires or rods, if Philae ends up up-side-down then a polarisation switch (right thro linear to left circular) on mother craft fixes that.

Else a simpler arrangement is a monopole, but unfortunate if the alignments end up on the polar hole.

Might be a bit of the first or all of the second ?

EDIT argh 8 new replies while I was typing that little missive, lets see if anyone said the same ! >>>>>

EDIT 2 ah mercboyan has a candidate !

[mercboyan]

Here's what the Consert Antenna is. From ESA:

"CONSERT (COmet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radio-wave Transmission) is a complex experiment that will reveal the internal structure of a comet nucleus for the very first time. Instrument components are found on both the orbiter and the lander, the idea being to establish a radio link that passes through the comet nucleus. The way in which the radio waves propagate through the nucleus will give scientists clues as to its structure and nature.

CONSERT will examine many properties of the comet nucleus, such as:

• Its mean electrical properties: this will allow scientists to broadly characterise the types of materials present
• The correlation length: this is a measure of the average size of the sub-structures or 'Cometesimals' that have collected together to form the nucleus
• The number and thickness of the various layers or interfaces present beneath the surface
• Its overall structural homogeneity: this will allow scientist to determine whether the nucleus is a single uniform body or if it is a mixed collection of smaller bodies, more akin to a rubble pile.

After analysis, the CONSERT data will allow scientists to build up a detailed structural view of the comet nucleus, which will in turn constrain scenarios on how it was formed. The origin of the comet is closely linked to the conditions in the Primitive Solar Nebulae some 4600 million years ago. CONSERT will therefore play a vital role in fullfilling Rosetta's objective to further our understanding of the origin and formation of the Solar System."

[SkySurfer]

It's 500 million km between Earth and Rosetta at this time.  Get your facts right before criticising other posters.

Sorry no offence, no need to be so abrupt, was just quoting the distance travelled, not where the comet currently resides...take a chill pill and calm down

I didn't mean any offence to the poster.

SS

[symesie04]

none taken by me

[SkySurfer]

none taken by me

Thanks, I didn't mean to sound rude, sorry if it came across that way, someone thought I was being.....

SS

[Stu]

Chaps, this is fascinating stuff so please keep the thread on track and be nice to each other!!

Let's please steer clear of conspiracy theories too, Philae is on the comet, end of! :-)

Cheers,

Stu

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Ptarmigan]

Here's what the Consert Antenna is. From ESA:

Nice find !

Very interesting.

Now I have to go on a dig to see if I can find the comms antenna !  **

The other possibilities are a loop within the structure, depending on the freq being used.

** by the way the plural of antenna is antennas

by definition of the IEE in 19errumm

The form 'antennae' is only used by yer biologists these days

EDIT cos we all know that engineers are no good at latin ! lol!

[Ptarmigan]

Philae is on the comet, end of! :-)

heheee yer, but which end of ?

The head or the bottom of the duck ? Nice one Stu

[gkec]

Sorry no offence, no need to be so abrupt, was just quoting the distance travelled, not where the comet currently resides...take a chill pill and calm down

I didn't mean any offence to the poster.

SS

Ok fair enough.

[Stu]

As mentioned before, please let's keep conspiracy theories out of this thread.

Cheers,

Stu

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[mercboyan]

Heh, not really a find. Emily is simply a coworker of mine. She's over in Germany at ESA for this whole Rosetta event, so I've been following her twitter updates. She's pretty much always on the ball when it comes to stuff like comets, moons, and robots in space

Nice find !

Very interesting.

[orion25]

Great photos! Thanks for sharing the images. Despite the unfortunate landing problems, this still is a most historic moment. I hope we learn much from this effort  

[carastro]

There is another "rod" sticking out in the top left photo as well, they obviously come from the lander and I read somewhere they were antennae.

(also note how close the lander is to a gas/dust jet in the same top left photo)

This image shows where the lander is in relation to the wire.

 

 

 

[Jonk]

There's a live update at 13:00, so once more images are released, I will post what I can take snapshots of.

Hopefully, there will be a lot more answers and information.

Tomorrow will be critical as power is running low unless they can move the lander into more light.