Rosetta confirmed awake!

[Sickle]

The ESA's comet chasing Rosetta probe has been confirmed as "Awake" after a signal was received.

Congrats ESA!

Edit: Also just realized how many others have posted about this AFTER I posted.... Whoopsie

[Initar]

YAY! Can't wait until november! First pictures from a comet's surface. How far we have gone....

You can follow the claps and cheers at:

http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/esalive

Edited January 20, 2014 by Initar

[Sickle]

Ooh, Thanks for the link, I love watching these sort of things *remebering Curiosity's landing*

[Duxwing]

Yeah! Go ESA!

-Duxwing

[Pixel of Life]

Well done indeed! Really excited, can't wait for the photos - we might actually be able to see the Earth if the craft has good enough camera equipment onboard I'm hoping for at least HD quality. 4K would be freaking amazing.

[Nibb31]

Well done indeed! Really excited, can't wait for the photos - we might actually be able to see the Earth if the craft has good enough camera equipment onboard I'm hoping for at least HD quality. 4K would be freaking amazing.

Rosetta has a pair of 4MP cameras, so at full resolution, we should be getting something like 2240x1680 pictures.

Philae has five 1MP cameras set at various wavelengths, so pictures from the surface will be low-resolution.

I don't think they will pointing the cameras at Earth. Why would they? It would be a waste of resources. All you would see at that distance is a dot, similar to what can be seen from Cassini pictures. ESA typically doesn't do pretty pictures like NASA. They tend to put a higher priority on scientific data than on PR.

[nhnifong]

Will Philae remain attached to the comet throughout it's near-the-sun period when the comet's nucleus is disintegrating?

[lajoswinkler]

Will Philae remain attached to the comet throughout it's near-the-sun period when the comet's nucleus is disintegrating?

It doesn't have the mechanicms to run away. If the comet doesn't spit it out, it will remain on the surface.

[Pixel of Life]

I don't think they will pointing the cameras at Earth. Why would they? It would be a waste of resources. All you would see at that distance is a dot, similar to what can be seen from Cassini pictures. ESA typically doesn't do pretty pictures like NASA. They tend to put a higher priority on scientific data than on PR.

I know. But that's not what I meant. No need to point the cameras away from the comet - if Philae takes some panoramic shots as well (it has a 360 degree camera, right?), we might just be able to see the Earth if the comet is in a proper orientation. I don't care if it's just a small dot, it'd be hella cool nevertheless!

Just wondering, what will happen to Rosetta after it has disconnected from Philae? Will it still keep doing science above the comet, and will the two communicate with each other? Or will they simply crash it into the surface or cut all communication and let it float away?

[Kryten]

Just wondering, what will happen to Rosetta after it has disconnected from Philae? Will it still keep doing science above the comet, and will the two communicate with each other? Or will they simply crash it into the surface or cut all communication and let it float away?

Philae is just a small part of the mission, not the main payload. It needs Rosetta to serve as a communications relay, and Rosetta will keep observing long after Philae is predicted to cease functioning.