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Philae's Batteries Have Drained; Comet Lander Sleeps
astroengine (1577233) writes "In the final hours, Philae's science team hurried to squeeze as much science out of the small lander as possible. But the deep sleep was inevitable, Rosetta's lander has slipped into hibernation after running its batteries dry. This may be the end of Philae's short and trailblazing mission on the surface of Comet 67P, but a huge amount of data — including data from a drilling operation that, apparently, was carried out despite concerns that Philae wasn't positioned correctly — was streamed to Rosetta mission control. "Prior to falling silent, the lander was able to transmit all science data gathered during the First Science Sequence," said Stephan Ulamec, Philae Lander Manager. "This machine performed magnificently under tough conditions, and we can be fully proud of the incredible scientific success Philae has delivered.""
I think we're all more interested in the shirt drama than any of this science stuff!
While the main battery is nearly depleted and at this point there is not enough solar power striking the solar panels to boot it back up, as the comet approaches the sun the light intensity should go up. We can hope that the existing conditions provide enough power to prevent damage to the landers electronics. Then as the comet approaches the sun and the comet either changes origination to provide more light or just Philae get more intense light it may rise again. That would be grand!
We will need the cheap Delta-V first.
Just print it! Geez guy, haven't you been keeping up?
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
I had to google "shirtstorm" to see what you're talking about... holy shit there is no hope left for society
A fool and his hard drive are soon parted.
Because the scientists wear shirts featuring pin-up girls!"
If you were me, you'd be good lookin'. - six string samurai
"No country for young men"
How much ado about nothing. This ladies will go insane at the hentai floors of the bookstores at Akihabara, and then buy a truckload of boylove manga.
Mexico: 100% conservative's America now!
Fifty-six hours after landing on the surface of a comet, Philae sent one more round of data about its new home across 310 million miles of space. Then, its power went out.
"@Rosetta, I'm feeling a bit tired, did you get all my data? I might take a nap..." read a message on the @philae2014 Twitter feed.
The Rosetta mission's twitter response: "You've done a great job Philae, something no spacecraft has ever done before."
All the experiments on board the lander had a chance to run and return information back to Earth. Philae's instruments scooped up material from the comet's surface, took its temperature, sent radio waves through its nucleus, and went hunting for hints of organic material. Cameras took the first panoramic images from the surface of a comet.
It has been a whirlwind ride for the lander, which was dropped onto the surface of the mountain-sized comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on Wednesday morning. Two harpoons that were designed to tether it to the surface failed to fire, and scientists say the lander made two bounces before becoming stable. The first bounce caused the lander to go one-third of a mile into the air.
Friday morning, ESA officials expressed concern that the lander would not have enough battery power left to send back any more data from experiments it was conducting on its new, icy home.
When Philae landed on the comet on Wednesday, it had enough battery power for about 60 hours of work. Scientists initially hoped that it would continue to operate on solar power, but the lander seemed to have settled in a hole on the comet, where it was surrounded by rock-like structures that block the sun.
Stefan Ulamec, the lander manager from DLR, said the that one of the solar panels on the lander was getting about an hour and 20 minutes of sunlight a day. Two other panels got just 20 to 30 minutes a day, he said.
At a news conference Friday morning before the last signal was received, Ulamec said it was possible that scientists would not hear from the lander again.
"We are hoping to get contact again this evening, but it is not secured," he said. "Maybe the battery will be empty before it talks to us."
Happily, that turned out not to be the case. On Friday evening, ESA reported that all the science experiments had been deployed, and that the lander had been rotated 35 degrees in an attempt to get more sun on one of its larger solar panels.
There is a chance that as the comet flies closer to the sun, the increase in solar energy will allow ESA to communicate with Philae once again.
ESA officials say the odds of that happening are small, but with Philae, the little lander that could, anything is possible.
When you stop and think about the fact that the Rosetta project was launched over ten years ago (something I didn't realize until recently), it's hard not to feel sorry for the scientists and others on the project.
The statements the ESA is putting out have a positive spin on them (for multiple reasons, I'm sure), but at the end of the day this has got to be a pretty hard blow to the people personally invested in the project. After the effort required just to get it launched and a decade of waiting, it must be hard on them. Wish them the best of luck for a second chance when the comet nears the Sun.
"What do you despise? By this are you truly known." --Princess Irulan, Manual of Muad'Dib
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After all the trouble and expense of sending a probe or lander out into the unknown, it seems a waste not to provide them with an RTG for reliable power. Solar panels have hobbled Mars rovers as well as other spacecraft.
Most people can think about more than one thing at a time. So in my head at the moment we have: It's an amazing achievement for the ESA and the team and for humanity at large. AND putting on that shirt was a bit thoughtless if he knew he was going to be on TV. AND if he didn't know he'd be asked to talk on TV and his bosses made him do it, that was a bit stupid on their part. AND if the TV people picked him to be on TV because of his shirt, that was pretty dickish of them.
See? You can think of more than one thing at a time and none of the other thing detract from the defining achievement of the mission. Unless you're a piss-baby who thinks your world is being ruined by SJWs. Then you can only keep one thing in your head at a time I guess.
Reality is defined by the maddest person in the room
I'm sure the idea will be popular in the US. You could fund it with NRA sponsorship.
You are welcome on my lawn.
the statements about dead of the lander are slightly exaggerated. It may still wake up. What was the last time when your project delivered all you started it for, did it on time and possibly (as we do not know it yet) did not reach goals on ambition level? I would like project that I work on be as good as this one. But than I have the biggest evil in the whole universe to fight against: bean counters.