Lord Camomile
Yipchaa!
At night.
Rosetta space mission - Philae probe due to land on comet on 12th Nov 2014
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2hats
Dust.
Philae system engineers are reasonably confident that they expect the lander to have enough energy to boot up around March and then be sufficiently warm a couple of months or so after that to start talking once more. Based on where they suspect it is they expect it to be able to charge as 'spring' kicks in in the region of the nucleus concerned. The battery should then be able to charge fully every several comet days (= half an Earth day).
Rosetta has imaged the nucleus to look for the lander but the high resolution versions are still in the queue awaiting an opportunity to be transmitted back to Earth.
Rosetta has imaged the nucleus to look for the lander but the high resolution versions are still in the queue awaiting an opportunity to be transmitted back to Earth.
wayward bob
i ate all your bees
awesome news 
(btw anyone on this thread hasn't seen europa report you should it's ace. watched it for the third time last night
)
(btw anyone on this thread hasn't seen europa report you should it's ace. watched it for the third time last night
)
2hats
Dust.
The magnetometer (ROMAP) data on Philae (variation in the local magnetic field around the lander due to it, the comet and the interaction of both) has been analysed and it suggests that after the first touchdown, the lander spun up (reaction to the flywheel being spun down), but was still stabilised (about the vertical axis). It then grazed the comet nucleus, perhaps with one leg (maybe a cliff or crater rim) which precipitated a more complex (slow) spin (a tumble) before the lander came to a rest on first one foot, then, eventually, all three, drifting a little further in the process.
More details here if you fancy looking at the dynamic power spectral density plots of magnetic field variation rates.
More details here if you fancy looking at the dynamic power spectral density plots of magnetic field variation rates.
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
2hats
Dust.
It's mainly ice, with a coating of dust.
Link?
Thanks
2hats
Dust.
Initial results from the Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) have been published. The water of Comet 67P/C-G is quite different from that on Earth (deuterium/hydrogen ratio measurements) and tends to lend more weight to the idea that some asteroids, rather than comets, contributed most of the water to the Earth's oceans.
The results also have implications for the origins of Jupiter family comets (of which 67P/C-G is one). More details here and a handy (large) explanatory diagram here.
The results also have implications for the origins of Jupiter family comets (of which 67P/C-G is one). More details here and a handy (large) explanatory diagram here.
editor
hiraethified
2hats
Dust.
Virtually all the images thus far have been from the lower resolution NAVCAM. The much higher resolution OSIRIS images (the vast majority of them) are embargoed for weeks, months even, as part of an early mission agreement to allow that science team time to publish research based on them. Reportedly some of them are stunning, but the public are going to have to wait for them.
Supine
Newt Member
Zoom into the top left of this picture and you can make out the face of Jesus!
http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/files/2014/12/ROS_CAM1_20141210D.jpg
http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/files/2014/12/ROS_CAM1_20141210D.jpg
wayward bob
i ate all your bees
wayward bob
i ate all your bees
spoiling my fun with your facts 
2hats
Dust.
Or just to 'wait' for it to rotate about its barycentre and meet you. The movements required for this ballet might be a little hard for a human to co-ordinate though. No real sense of up and down (the lighting conditions only making it harder).
2hats
Dust.
ESA have released some more images. A nice mosaic of Philae's descent away from the orbiter Rosetta towards the comet's nucleus:
They've also released one of the Philae search images (below) taken with the OSIRIS camera. It is somewhere in the shadows inside that red ellipse narrowed down by radio signals science (some 3 pixels in extent - there are several possible candidates but at that level of resolution it is not possible to distinguish Philae from surface features). Most likely it is in the dark 'ditch' slightly left of centre which has been named Abydos:
There will be no more dedicated attempts to find it visually (all future visual passes over the landing site will be at greater distances/lower resolution as the orbiter backs off away from the increasingly active comet nucleus) however Rosetta will in the coming weeks periodically call Philae and listen for a response. Solar illumination at the final landing site isn't expected to be optimal (for battery charging) till May or June so a sustained conversation is not thought possible until then (if possible at all). However there is a slim chance of a short signal from late March onwards if the lander has managed a partial battery recharge as the illumination angles gradually change (that position on the cometary nucleus effectively moves from winter to summer).
They've also released one of the Philae search images (below) taken with the OSIRIS camera. It is somewhere in the shadows inside that red ellipse narrowed down by radio signals science (some 3 pixels in extent - there are several possible candidates but at that level of resolution it is not possible to distinguish Philae from surface features). Most likely it is in the dark 'ditch' slightly left of centre which has been named Abydos:
There will be no more dedicated attempts to find it visually (all future visual passes over the landing site will be at greater distances/lower resolution as the orbiter backs off away from the increasingly active comet nucleus) however Rosetta will in the coming weeks periodically call Philae and listen for a response. Solar illumination at the final landing site isn't expected to be optimal (for battery charging) till May or June so a sustained conversation is not thought possible until then (if possible at all). However there is a slim chance of a short signal from late March onwards if the lander has managed a partial battery recharge as the illumination angles gradually change (that position on the cometary nucleus effectively moves from winter to summer).
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