ESA Still Searching For Philae; May Have Zeroed In On a Possible Location

hypnosec writes with the news that the European Space Agency may have located the agency's Philae lander. The official Rosetta blog says Fortunately, it was possible to narrow down the lander’s final location by using the radio signals sent between Philae and Rosetta as part of the CONSERT experiment after the final touchdown. Combining data on the signal travel time between the two spacecraft with the known trajectory of Rosetta and the current best shape model for the comet, the CONSERT team have been able to establish the location of Philae to within an ellipse roughly 16 x 160 metres in size, just outside the rim of the Hatmehit depression. That means just a few candidates for Philae's current location, based on imaging performed by Rosetta's OSIRIS camera.

Comments

Re:I have an exact location :p

[Applehu Akbar]

Knowing the exact location would be important in determining whether it will get sunlight - and therefore revive - as the comet draws closer to perihelion.

Alive, and reporting back to Mother Earth

[Anonymous Coward]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33126885