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Comet Lander Falls Silent; Scientists Fear It Has Moved
vivaoporto writes: European scientists say the Philae comet lander fell silent on Monday, raising fears that it has moved again on its new home millions of miles from Earth. Over the last few weeks, Rosetta has been flying along the terminator plane of the comet in order to find the best location to communicate with Philae. However, over the weekend of 10-11 July, the star trackers struggled to lock on to stars at the closer distances. No contact has been made with Philae since 9 July. The data acquired at that time are being investigated by the lander team to try to better understand Philae's situation.
One possible explanation being discussed at DLR's Lander Control Center is that the position of Philae may have shifted slightly, perhaps by changing its orientation with respect to the surface in its current location. The lander is likely situated on uneven terrain, and even a slight change in its position – perhaps triggered by gas emission from the comet – could mean that its antenna position has also now changed with respect to its surroundings. This could have a knock-on effect as to the best position Rosetta needs to be in to establish a connection with the lander.
The current status of Philae remains uncertain and is a topic of on-going discussion and analysis. But in the meantime, further commands are being prepared and tested to allow Philae to re-commence operations. The lander team wants to try to activate a command block that is still stored in Philae's computer and which was already successfully performed after the lander's unplanned flight across to the surface to its final location. "Although the mission will now focus its scientific priority on the orbiter, Rosetta will continue attempting – up to and past perihelion – to obtain Philae science packets once a stable link has been acquired," adds Patrick Martin, Rosetta mission manager.
One possible explanation being discussed at DLR's Lander Control Center is that the position of Philae may have shifted slightly, perhaps by changing its orientation with respect to the surface in its current location. The lander is likely situated on uneven terrain, and even a slight change in its position – perhaps triggered by gas emission from the comet – could mean that its antenna position has also now changed with respect to its surroundings. This could have a knock-on effect as to the best position Rosetta needs to be in to establish a connection with the lander.
The current status of Philae remains uncertain and is a topic of on-going discussion and analysis. But in the meantime, further commands are being prepared and tested to allow Philae to re-commence operations. The lander team wants to try to activate a command block that is still stored in Philae's computer and which was already successfully performed after the lander's unplanned flight across to the surface to its final location. "Although the mission will now focus its scientific priority on the orbiter, Rosetta will continue attempting – up to and past perihelion – to obtain Philae science packets once a stable link has been acquired," adds Patrick Martin, Rosetta mission manager.
...if the European Scientists ever had nightmares as children that they came home only to find their family had moved without telling them.
See how the ESA's use of the metric system led to this completely successful space mission.
Suuuuuure, perhaps. About as likely as anything else if we're just purely speculating on that point for no reason.
Did they ever find out exactly where it ended up?
We land a spacecraft on a comet for the first time. It loses power, but when it comes back online...it's different. It's moving. And we don't know what it's up to.
Ah, you all know the rest by now.
The only thing necessary for evil to triumph is for it to be pitted against a slightly greater evil
Can't a lander get a day off 'round here??
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
Scramble the jets and nuke the fucker before it steers the comet into earth!
Stay lander, stay! Bad lander!
I wonder why the lander's antenna is directional when it only communicates with the orbiter. That doesn't seem like enough distance to warrant directional.
I don't know what they're going on about Philae going silent. All they have to do is check its twitter feed and see that its still communicating.
= 1440 NetBSD Pallid bodies and Today. It's about Creek, abysmal voLatile world of Area. It is the AT&T and Berkeley
If you shave with an Occam, that's actually the most likely explanation. Although Philae was equipped with ice-anchor feet, these did not take hold and the lander is just resting on the comet. Because its weight on that tiny body is the same as one sheet of paper, any outgassing as the comet approaches the sun will literally blow it away.
I'm not saying it was aliens . . . but it was aliens.
It would of course be courteous to leave a forwarding address when you move.
if it moved, just ask for it's forwarding address. :)
Anons need not reply. Questions end with a question mark.
I am sorry that this thread was so useless and free of useful information. Where did everyone go?