Rosetta space mission - Philae probe due to land on comet on 12th Nov 2014

[2hats]

One of the two harpoons (constructed from a copper beryllium alloy), about 15cm long overall. They are fired (by a pyrotechnic gas generator) at about 2m/s, 0.25 seconds after touchdown, each trailing a 2.5m long tether from underneath the lander baseplate. The tethers are then wound back in over a 5 second period. With any luck the comet surface won't be hard enough to result in a rebound (which is what the cold gas thruster, that is of concern, would have been ideal to compensated for).

 

[2hats]

Rosetta orbiter signal reacquired it would appear. Telemetry being received from the lander.

 

[2hats]

Lander telemetry indicates the flywheel is spun up stabilising the craft and the landing gear legs have deployed.

 

[2hats]

And now a short musical interlude:

 

[EastEnder]

First images from Philae are in:

 

[weltweit]

I wonder if after landing, the camera on Rosetta will be able to zoom in to show Philae on the surface ..

 

[Crispy]

I wonder if after landing, the camera on Rosetta will be able to zoom in to show Philae on the surface ..

It'll show as a few pixels. Probably easiest to discern when illuminated at a shallow angle and throwing a long shadow.

 

[2hats]

I wonder if after landing, the camera on Rosetta will be able to zoom in to show Philae on the surface ..

It might be noticeable, due to the lander being far, far more reflective than the surface material. However it isn't expected to be resolvable beyond a couple of camera pixels or so. So yes, hopefully will be possible to spot where it is but there won't be any detail in the shot (eg indication of orientation, state of lander legs, etc).

 

[2hats]

Seems the first image has arrived. Not a good shot though. Mainly in shadow.

e2a: an image...

2e2a: looks like images may be released in the next 15 minutes or so.

 

[2hats]

Image of the orbiter from the lander 50 seconds after release, blurred by relative motion. Fairly raw with little processing.

 

[2hats]

Nice shot of the lander from the orbiter just released. Legs clearly deployed.

 

[Crispy]

 

[Crispy]

Spectacular

 

[2hats]

Spectacular

Everything properly deployed.

 

[2hats]

Mission managers report the lander is correctly positioned, on track.

 

[Disjecta Membra]

Ohhhh, come on! Am waiting impatiently

 

[2hats]

The downward facing camera on the lander Philae, ROLIS, should have now started taking a series of descent images which will continue past touchdown.

 

[2hats]

Ohhhh, come on! Am waiting impatiently

Probably better that it takes just slightly longer (but still within the planned landing window) as that would probably tend to equate to a slightly lower surface approach velocity. Touchdown window opens in just under 10 minutes at 1522UTC.

 

[Crispy]

Probably better that it takes just slightly longer (but still within the planned landing window) as that would probably tend to equate to a slightly lower surface approach velocity. Touchdown window opens in just under 10 minutes at 1522UTC.

That's apparent time, right? So it could be on the surface already

 

[2hats]

The project manager Fred Jansen has suggested that one end of mission option for Rosetta that is being considered is to park it on the surface of the comet nucleus, with Philae.

 

[2hats]

That's apparent time, right? So it could be on the surface already

Yes, I think I have my times correct. I try to give everything in the Earth signal arrival time.

 

[Voley]

That's apparent time, right? So it could be on the surface already

I think Space has a different time zone. Probably an hour or two forward like if you go to France.

 

[Lazy Llama]

Latest colour image of Philae probe approaching the comet:

 

[2hats]

That's a positive reaction (from mission managers)...

 

[2hats]

They've landed.

 

[2hats]

Looks like they have telemetry indicating a touchdown and are trying to establish the state of the lander. They seem to think it is sitting on the surface.

 

[Fez909]

It's on rock and talking

 

[2hats]

Harpoons fired, wound in, landing gear on the surface. Flywheel spun down. That's a landing then.

 

[TopCat]

Superb!

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

That was a proper lump-in-throat moment. Wonderful stuff.