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Rosetta, Philae and Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

Vicomt

By Vicomt
in Science & Spaceflight

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*Aqua*

*Aqua*

Posted
Posted

Good morning, Philae!

CHdTHfSWoAABBkB.jpg:large

News from ESA (source)

"Philae is doing very well: It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24 Watts available," [...] "The lander is ready for operations."

For 85 seconds Philae "spoke" with its team on ground, via Rosetta, [...]

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."

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.

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Sky_walker

Sky_walker

Posted
Posted

Wow, the excitement level of this mission goes higher and higher! hehehehe

I'm most glad to see that ESA yet again proved nay-sayers to be wrong! Amazing news.

Philae apparently got 24 Watts available at the moment which is said to already be enough to run some experiments. But because it woke up so long before reaching perihelion (what will happen on 13 August 2015) it seems that ESA will be able to study Comet with Philae for quite a while now.

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LordFerret

LordFerret

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Posted

"More than 300 data packets have been analysed by the teams at the Lander Control Center at the German Aerospace Center (DLR)"

"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."

http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/06/14/rosettas-lander-philae-wakes-up-from-hibernation/

Looks like they'll have a lot of catching-up to do.

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StarStreak2109

StarStreak2109

Posted
Posted

Just read it on Google News...!!! AWESOME!!!

Apparently there are over 8000 data packets stored in its memory banks, which will give the scientists hints about Philae's story of the last few days... And also they seem to have narrowed down its position to an area of about 16 by 160 meters.

Sooooo excited!

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katateochi

katateochi

Posted
Posted
I'd always hoped this day would come! This is almost more exciting than the original landing. Congratulations ESA for sucussfully sheparding Philae through the past few months and for building such a robust probe in the first place!

And all they had to do was timewarp for a while until it was back in the light! ;)

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H2O.

H2O.

Posted
Posted (edited)

An interview with Philippe Gaudon (CNES project manager for Rosetta), on 20 minutes.

Quick summary:

_2 min of communication, 40 s of data transmission.

_lander at -35°C, batteries containers at 0°C (ie: recharge is possible)

_1 communication possible every 12h30

_ESA is OK to modify Rosetta trajectory to acquire a better signal

_a 15 min signal is needed to run experiments. Priorities as follow:

1. gaz composition

2. tv cameras

3. drill (in any case, not before july)

_communication probable until october

_teams are thrilled and at work. Summer vacations cancelled.

Edited by H2O.
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vger

vger

Posted
Posted

Do they know what condition its in? Is it an 'acceptable' landed position? Laying on its side? Upside down? Did it sustain any damage?

Granted, I know the 'collision' with the comet when the harpoon failed was probably an extremely slow-motion process, give that the comet's finite gravity was enough to hold onto it, but then, things like solar panels aren't what I would call durable.

It's hard not to picture it being crushed like a beer can while it was bouncing across the surface.

And I at least thought the harpoon was needed to keep it tethered to the comet while using the drill, but apparently even that isn't the case.

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Shpaget

Shpaget

Posted
Posted (edited)

Good morning Philae!

The first touchdown happened at 38 cm/s. Not that fast, but the lander is 100 kg and likely fragile to save as much mass as possible.

Apparently it's not damaged and is ready to do science.

What I find interesting is that Philae woke up and called for our attention some time ago, but Rosetta was not listening until 12 March.

Edited by Shpaget
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PakledHostage

PakledHostage

Posted
Posted
Do they know what condition its in? Is it an 'acceptable' landed position? Laying on its side? Upside down? Did it sustain any damage?

It operated for about 60 hours after it landed last November, so it was certainly in serviceable condition after it landed. They did what science they could back then before the batteries ran down and then they put it into hibernation in the hopes that this day would come. With this morning's news, Philae is transmitting, the batteries are now warm enough again that they can be recharged and the solar panels are generating 24 Watts or so. Things are looking up. With careful management and a bit of luck, they'll be able to pick up where they left off last fall.

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Space_Coyote

Space_Coyote

Posted
Posted

This just in from teh European Space Agency.. Seems that the little Cometary lander known as Philae,, has just woken up from it's 7 month slumber.

The German Aerospace Center says the lander, resumed communication for more than a minute late Saturday. The ESA says the probe sent about 300 packages of data to Earth via its mother ship Rosetta, which is orbiting the comet.

For those who forgot abot this little cometary lander, the vehicle touched down on Comet 67 P back on November 12th of last year, and after just 3 days, the batteries ran out as it waas hitten from the sun and had no way to recharge..

Well it seems that the lander is back online, albeit intermittently .. but the who knows.. if this is a sign of what might happen, well we might see history in the making agian, unless hte batteries run out..

Let's hope for the best..

Space_Soyote

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