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Rosetta Hunts For Comet Touch Down Site For Philae Lander

Posted by samzenpus on from the how-about-here dept.

astroengine writes Attached to the European Space Agency's comet-chasing spacecraft Rosetta, the Philae lander opened one of its robotic eyes when the mission was orbiting comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko at a distance of only 50 kilometers (31 miles) on Sunday. With two high-contrast exposures, the lander captured one of Rosetta's solar panels in the foreground with the comet behind. ESA says the choice of landing sites will be narrowed down from five to two on Monday -- a primary target and a backup -- before a final decision is made in October.

17 comments

  1. Odd name by Tablizer · · Score: 2

    Is it just me, or does the lander name sound a bit, uhhh, personal?

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    Table-ized A.I.
    1. Re:Odd name by i+kan+reed · · Score: 5, Informative

      The lander is named after Philae Island in the Nile, where an obelisk was found that was used along with the Rosetta Stone to decipher Egyptian hieroglyphics.

      Wikipedia.

      So no. Instead, it's a "clever" tie-in to the overall mission name.

    2. Re:Odd name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      nerd-whoooosh

    3. Re:Odd name by TheRealSteveDallas · · Score: 2

      It would have been funnier if they called it the Philae Landerer

    4. Re:Odd name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It still all comes across as a testosterone festival to me. Hey let's just go with it.

    5. Re:Odd name by ShaunC · · Score: 1

      Well they do say that the "Philae lander opened one of its robotic eyes," so the inference of a one-eyed something or other is there, probably on purpose.

      --
      Thanks to the War on Drugs, it's easier to buy meth than it is to buy cold medicine!
    6. Re:Odd name by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But, you know, a little green rosetta will make your muffin better.

  2. It's a fight between flight and science operations by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    The lander has an expected design lifetime somewhere around 72 hours or so. Obviously they want to keep it alive for much longer than that, so that means putting it in a spot that gets a good balance between solar exposure and cooling efficiency. Unfortunately for the scientists, the flattest and most sun-exposed areas on "Cherry Garry" are also some of the most boring scientifically, relatively speaking.

  3. Re:It's a fight between flight and science operati by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They should have dropped four landers 30 days apart. justsayin if they made it all they way there they should make it worth the expense. just make four of the exact same lander so zero additional engineering. they could have corporate sponsors for each lander. Budweiser, RedBull, etc. would be kinda cool. making more than one would protect against failure. guess they can't do a rover because the low gravity would make it fly off.

  4. Effing JS by Mateorabi · · Score: 1

    Of the thirty some domains trying to execute javascript from that page, anyone have the secret combination to temporarily let through noscript so the right-arrow "next image" button works? Just discovery.com and their cdn is not sufficient.

    --
    "You saved 1968." - Ms. Valerie Pringle to the crew of Apollo 8

    1. Re:Effing JS by ldobehardcore · · Score: 1

      Don't even try. Getting syphilis isn't worth the fun of fucking the whore.

      --
      Hectice, baby, Mercator says hello to you
    2. Re:Effing JS by able1234au · · Score: 1

      try this... http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2...

  5. Just do it by AndyKron · · Score: 1

    Just slam it in there and give it a twist.

  6. Re:It's a fight between flight and science operati by manu0601 · · Score: 3

    Indeed they cannot afford a rover. IIRC the gravity is so low that moving on the surface at 0.5 cm/s is enough to escape the comet.

  7. Very exciting! by Deagol · · Score: 1

    Anyone else have Clarke's 2069 in the back of their minds when they hear updates about this mission? I'm sure he wasn't the only SF writer to make comet-landing a plot point, but his is the only one in my reading history.

    Exciting times!

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    Method of processing duck feet
  8. And Rosetta asks ... by Rambo+Tribble · · Score: 1

    ... "Does that angle make me look fat?"

  9. Re:It's a fight between flight and science operati by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The main problem with that is also the reason the lander is so small: to send things that far away you pay every kg with blood essentially
    Just to give you a sense of how tight things are even with this lander, it has only one reaction wheel instead of the usual three!
    Also the science payload on the lander is stripped to the bone and lacks many of the basic instruments one usually packs in those things

    planetary scientist here unfortunately not affiliated with the mission