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Comet Probe Philae To Deploy Drill As Battery Life Wanes

Posted by samzenpus on from the last-days dept.

An anonymous reader writes With less than a day of battery life left, The European Space Agency's Philae probe will begin to drill for samples even though the drilling may dislodge it. From the article: "Philae is sitting in the shadow of a cliff, and will not get enough sunlight to work beyond Saturday. Friday night's radio contact with the orbiting Rosetta satellite will be the last that engineers have a reasonable confidence will work. The team is still not sure where on the surface the probe came to rest after bouncing upon landing on Wednesday. Scientists have been examining radio transmissions between the orbiter and the lander to see if they can triangulate a position. This work has now produced a 'circle of uncertainty' within which Philae almost certainly lies."

7 of 223 comments (clear)

  1. Drill by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Drill baby, drill!

  2. I know it! by marcello_dl · · Score: 4, Funny

    > What state would the man be in after 10 years in space?
    The "Bored" state.

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    1. Re:I know it! by DahGhostfacedFiddlah · · Score: 5, Funny

      That puts him in the same state as the comet, assuming all goes well.

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      Last post!
    2. Re:I know it! by BarbaraHudson · · Score: 4, Funny

      Pity they didn't send Bruce Willis with. What with all his previous experience. Would have been a win-win.

      I nominate Justin Bieber instead. The last 10 years out of sight, one-way mission ... now that's a win-win. Throw in the Kardashians, and we could probably crowd-fund it.

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      "Transparent" is a shit show that trades on every stereotype going. A man in drag is NOT a transsexual.
  3. Re:Huh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    All hail the armchair asteroid mission planning experts. Why they keep hiring professionals to do these jobs is beyond me.

  4. Re:Huh by meta-monkey · · Score: 4, Funny

    To be honest, the trajectory calculations aren't that difficult. It's fairly cut and dry math and there have been computer programs to calculate this stuff for decades. It's cool, don't get me wrong, and the margin for error is a lot smaller than trying to hit Jupiter, but it ain't exactly rocket science.

    Wait...

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    We don't have a state-run media we have a media-run state.
  5. Re:RTGs not feasible for small probes by ColdWetDog · · Score: 3, Funny

    Iron Man is not a documentary ....

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    Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!