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Online At Last: Comet Lander Philae Wakes Up
techtech writes with this news from the BBC: The European Space Agency (ESA) says its comet lander, Philae, has woken up and contacted Earth. Philae, the first spacecraft to land on a comet, was dropped on to the surface of Comet 67P by its mothership, Rosetta, last November. It worked for 60 hours before its solar-powered battery ran flat. The comet has since moved nearer to the sun and Philae has enough power to work again, says the BBC's science correspondent Jonathan Amos. An account linked to the probe tweeted the message, "Hello Earth! Can you hear me?"
Watch this space for some more links to follow. Update: 06/14 13:39 GMT by T : From the ESA's Rosetta blog:
When analysing the status data it became clear that Philae also must have been awake earlier: "We have also received historical data - so far, however, the lander had not been able to contact us earlier," [according to project manager Dr. Stephan Ulamec.] Now the scientists are waiting for the next contact. There are still more than 8000 data packets in Philae’s mass memory which will give the DLR team information on what happened to the lander in the past few days on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Pinpointing the location shouldn't be a problem now
Sometimes it works in your favor.
This time, just for fun, all the men will appear without shirts.
I respectfully disagree. I think it's pretty interesting that a spacecraft has gotten itself going via solar power and is communicating with base. That's about as "news for nerds" as it gets. Watching for further updates is also a pretty nerdnewsworthy practice. Spaceships are cool.
I've been waiting and hoping for that little probe to wake up and start chatting again. I know it's only a lump of machinery, but developing emotional responses to lumps of machinery is built into humans at a pretty low level.
The next message is, "Sorry I am late but I met this girl..."
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Better reference: http://xkcd.com/1446/
A republic cannot succeed till it contains a certain body of men imbued with the principles of justice and honour.
The next message is, "Sorry I am late but I met this girl..."
V'Ger? She's kind of a bitch.
Only if you're a carbon unit. Man, does she hate those!
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
Because it's fun? It gives a little personality to not just the lander, but to the team running the project.
01001100101100101011000111
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
No, it just means you lack a sense of humor. In the real world, people think personification like this (and in particular stuff like those cartoons ESA released) is cute.