Supine
Newt Member
Apparently the command sequence failed to upload to the lander.
That's what I say when my penetrator fails to upload the command sequence
Apparently the command sequence failed to upload to the lander.
What I'm confused about is why they landed on it so far away: why not hop on when it was closer to the Sun/Earth? Would surely have taken much less time and therefore less chance to fuck things up (not that anything did fuck up on the way to the rock).
What I'm confused about is why they landed on it so far away: why not hop on when it was closer to the Sun/Earth? Would surely have taken much less time and therefore less chance to fuck things up (not that anything did fuck up on the way to the rock).
The comet would have been far more active then. Much more hazardous to approach and try and land on - it probably wouldn't have been possible to image the nucleus and select a landing site (for example). Then on trying to land out gassing would have probably just pushed the lander away (and sandblasted the instruments, solar panels).
Thanks, that makes sense.They were likely constrained by the limited number of possible ways to slingshot Rosetta to match the comets orbit, and they'd need a solution where the comet wasn't outgassing everywhere at the time of arrival.
The slingshot would be possible some other way I would have thought.
They were likely constrained by the limited number of possible ways to slingshot Rosetta to match the comets orbit, and they'd need a solution where the comet wasn't outgassing everywhere at the time of arrival.
The change of plan was committed to before they left Earth, though, so I imagine it didn't increase the risk a great deal.Rosetta was initially designed to rendezvous with another comet, but an Ariane launch failure nixed that, so they had to improvise a bit to get to this one. I don't know what limitations and extra risks that imposed on them, but I'm sure someone here does
Rosetta was initially designed to rendezvous with another comet, but an Ariane launch failure nixed that, so they had to improvise a bit to get to this one. I don't know what limitations and extra risks that imposed on them, but I'm sure someone here does
No. They could have reached it when closer to the sun as that would have required even less energy. The main driver was to observe the evolution of the comet as it approaches the sun - the development of the coma and tail, the processes on the surface.
Ah right. So they had quite a range of options then?
the team has decided to operate another moving instrument, named Mupus, on Thursday evening. This could cause Philae to shift, but calculations show that it would be in a direction that could improve the amount of sunlight falling on the probe. A change in angle of only a few degrees could help. A new panoramic image will be taken after the Mupus deployment to see if there has been any movement.
Bugger, I read that as 'transitioned from democracy to activity' sorry.They also wanted to observe the comet as it transitioned from dormancy to activity.
Just confirmed: Philae is talking to Earth (through Rosetta). Telemetry data downlinking first, then science data. Telemetry tells the engineers the condition of Philae. From that we will know if Philae has shifted position.
wonder if its better or worse?ESOC report a change in the radio signal character from the lander (to the orbiter). One possibility is that the lander orientation/position has altered.
wonder if its better or worse?
Sounds encouraging. Thanks.The original signal was described as weak, coming and going (lowering the data rate as a result) before stabilising. This morning they waited for the signal. Heard nothing. Time elapsed. Then suddenly a very strong signal. One interpretation of this could be that the lander has moved and is in a better orientation for the antenna (at least).
Sounds encouraging. Thanks.
Fingers crossed. I actually went to sleep last night feeling some kind of strange empathy with the little lander stuck on a remote chunk of rock millions of miles away.
The drill is reported as working.