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Images from Philae's onboard camera


Jonk

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Great thread with some very interesting information.

Anyhoo, I do hope that the lander can complete the primary science and that an attempt to stabilise it/move it to another location works. Getting solid science for weeks would be a huge added benefit to the program.

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Chaps and Chapesses,

Can we please keep the [removed word] stuff about aliens either for the Lounge, or preferably for another forum.

This thread has some great information about a really amazing achievement, and whilst I have no desire to be a kill joy, it would be a shame to allow it to get lost amongst the UFO/conspiracy theories

Thanks for your co-operation, now back to Philae

Cheers,

Stu

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Latest news - they still haven't confirmed the location of Philae.

They have received more images but these are not ready to publish.

They should be able to tell the location by the series of images taken during the bounce and rebounce. [Holger Spierks - OSIRIS Principle Manager]

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Matt Taylor is apologising about a big mistake, he looks like he's very upset  - they have no science results yet. He is clearly so excited yet upset that he has no results yet. No mention of a 'mistake' though?

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They have no idea of battery life - it may even run out before contact is made when Rosetta returns into range later this evening.

If they obtain contact tonight, they are going to attempt to rotate Philae to maximise the solar generation.

They think that even if the batteries die today, that as the comet approaches the sun they will be able to resume power charging as they get more sunlight to the solar panels.

[stefan Ulamec, Lander Manager DLR]

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They think that the know roughly how much powe is left, but are concerned that the battery temperature is dropping too fast.

Batteries perform better when they are warm, worse when they are cold (relatively).

They think panel 2 has a shadow on it, and rotating the larger panel into the sun may help prolong the power.

If this works, they could bounce out of the shadows - although unlikely.

[Valentina Lommats, Lander Control Center DLR]

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They are not toppled over, they are sitting in a hole, but upright.

They have worked this out by reading which solar arrays have light (only 1 of them apparently).

They cannot tell if the drill has penetrated. They have taken a picture of the drill. They have to hope the drill reaches the ground.

[Valentina Lommats, Lander Control Center DLR]

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There are some questions from Twitter / Google + etc.

Q: What brought the lander back down afer the bounce - A: Gravity.

Q: Can they power up the flywheel to move the lander-  A: yes possibility being looked into.

Q: If the battery is flat, does the data get stored? - A: Yes.

Q: Can it be rotated to move solar panels into the light? - A: Yes, but difficult as they don't know the position or orientation exactly.

Q: Is there any chance the harpoons could fire accidentally? - A: Matt Taylor wants to say no, but doesn't think it's a risk. Still no plan to fire harpoons.

Q: How much gravity? - A: 100,000 times that of Earth. Not much but enough to get the lander down.

Q: If you could launch again, what changes would be made? - A: Andrea would fly pretty much the same again.

Q: As the harpoons don't appear to have been needed, what could have replaced them? - A: Larger batteries most likely.

Q: What was the thinking behind changing one onboard science lab to receive the sample data as opposed to the predetermined? - A: Less energy to measure. More to learn from the other on board lab.

Q: What fraction of data expected has been obtained already? - A: We have a lot, around the 80% range at the moment. Difficult to be precise.

Q: Do you have any colour pictures available yet? - A: It;s not very colourful. We do have a set of images in colour mapped, but more colour images means less resolution / coverage. They think it would be slightly reddish if enhanced.

Q: Will the landing site still be called the given name, even though it landed elswhere? - A: Not a decision for the camera team. Matt Taylor thinks where ever Philae is, this will be the landing site and named as such.

Q: Would it have been possible to design the landing gear to absorb all the impact energy? - A: Everything is not possible. It was designed to absorb the majority of the impact energy.

Q: When the comet becomes more active as it approaches the sun, how will the lander stay attached? - A: The lander will probably be blown away due to the density of the lander. They will need to rely on Rosetta for further data.

Q: How do cameras on spacecraft from the past compare to the OSIRIS camera and other cameras on board? Why no video feed from the spacecraft? - A: Older cameras use silicon chips (CMOS or CCD). No real answer on live streaming.

Q: Could a little bit of sun be saved in the solar batteries for future? - A; Unlikely. We have anout 1 and a haf hours at 1W. We need 5W+ to boot up. To charge the batteries, it needs to be above 0 degrees C. 50-60Wh per day to reach 0 degrees, so at the moment it's not looking good. We may have enough energy to the 1 solar panel may be enough for small periods of radio contact, but luck is needed - Rosetta needs to be listing at the correct times. It's looking bad.

Q: What will be learned from the drill samples if this works? - A: Samples will be heated in an onboard oven then analysed for chemical content. No news on this yet.

Q: What has been learned to help improve future landing attempts. - A: It has been a big success already. All onboard instruments are working very well. We would improve each instrument if we had another go. Nasa are watching the Rosetta movement calculations and are learning what can be applied to future missions.

Q: Is it possible to put Rosetta into an orbit that aligns it with Philae all the time? - A - Basically no.

Q: Can Rosetta reflect sunlight onto Philae? - A: not possible!

Q: Where is Rosetta on it's trajectory? - A: Rosetta is in a safe area around the comet - avoiding the gas flows etc. They are in the sun's rays.

Q: Will Rosetta get to 10km distance again? A: Not the plan - we will probably go to 20km again as planned. Matt Taylor - we will do a flyby of the oment again in the future.

Q: When we will know when the battery is flat? - A: If no data is received back when expected, the battery is flat or Philae has beenm damaged.

Q: Why not a nuclear battery? - A:Pultonium is highly toxic, unsafe, politically bad to launch nuclear substance. Technology not designed, mainly for political reasons.

Q: Is there another comet project coming up? - A: NASA The next mission is Japanese, to launch later this month to get a sample from an asteroid. There are a couple of others in the next decade.

Now the panel have their closing comments.

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Results from comet landing: 14 Nov, 13:00 GMT

Update on the Rosetta mission, including status of the Philae lander.

Hosted by Emily Baldwin - ESA Science Editor, with:

Andrea Accomazzo - ESA Rosetta Flight Director, ESOC

Stephan Ulamec - Philae Lander Manager, DLR

Matt Taylor - Rosetta Project Scientist, ESA

Philippe Gaudon - CNES Rosetta Project Manager, SONC

Holger Sierks - PI for OSIRIS, Max-Planck-Institute for Solar System Research

Valentina Lommatsch - DLR-Lander Control Center, mission team

Jeff Grossman - OSIRIS-REx Program Scientist, NASA

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I liked this tweet from Nick Howes -   :smiley:

Nick Howes ‏@NickAstronomer  6 hrs 6 hours ago Northampton, East Midlands

What we now need is @mggtTaylor in a white waistcoat saying "Failure is not an option" (sic) ... :-) #unleashthedrills #cometlanding

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Thanks...glad to help.

At the moment, I'm setting the scope up and cooling down for a 2-3 hour window of clear skies from about 6pm totry and add to my small amount of Andromeda data.

Going to do a Milky Way or 2 from Cygnus X down to the Horizon too.. Not the most spectacular part to image as the core is well below the horizon at the moment, but practice practice!

I'll also keep one eye on ESA's website for any Philae updates. Hopefully the little fella has enough juice to send us it's dying wishes / parting gift...

Sleep can wait until later :smiley:

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Latest update:

Signal acquired at 22:19 CET – waiting confirmation

Rosetta deputy flight director Elsa Montagnon in ESOC's Main Control Room just announced: We acquired signals from Philae just a few minutes ago, but then lost contact again.

This has happened in two of the three previous communication passes with Philae, when initial contact was lost and then regained several times. It has taken up to an hour to establish a stable telecom link to the surface, so this is 'normal' behaviour.

The mission control team continues watching closely.

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