Rosetta comet chaser completes "big burn"

Iwannahurl

Anchoring system being tested in July 2014.

josip

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Anchoring system being tested in July 2014.

What would have been the point of further testing in 2014?
Wouldn't/Shouldn't they have done all the testing they needed prior to launch?

nokia69

josip wrote: »

What would have been the point of further testing in 2014?
Wouldn't/Shouldn't they have done all the testing they needed prior to launch?

maybe they were able to make changes to the program controlling the system before reaching the comet

Cork boy 55

Comet landing: Organic molecules detected by Philae

The Philae lander has detected organic molecules on the surface of its comet, scientists have confirmed.

Carbon-containing "organics" are the basis of life on Earth and may give clues to chemical ingredients delivered to our planet early in its history.

The compounds were picked up by a German-built instrument designed to "sniff" the comet's thin atmosphere.

Other analyses suggest the comet's surface is largely water-ice covered with a thin dust layer.

The European Space Agency (Esa) craft touched down on the Comet 67P on 12 November after a 10-year journey.

Dr Fred Goessmann, principal investigator on the Cosac instrument, which made the organics detection, confirmed the find to BBC N

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30097648

shedweller

That is amazing news.

josip

There's nothing new in the discovery of organic molecules in a comet's atmosphere.
http://iopscience.iop.org/2041-8205/792/1/L2/article
I think it's more than a co-incidence that they day they announced this discovery, that they also announced that the drill may not have gotten any samples in the ovens.

Javan

josip wrote: »

There's nothing new in the discovery of organic molecules in a comet's atmosphere.
http://iopscience.iop.org/2041-8205/792/1/L2/article
I think it's more than a co-incidence that they day they announced this discovery, that they also announced that the drill may not have gotten any samples in the ovens.

^^ This.

The real question is about the complexity of the organic compounds discovered. Carbon dioxide, ammonia, methane, methanol: all of these are known from previous observations. Amino acids or other larger molecules would be a much more exciting find.

josip

brevity wrote: »

Uh oh..the battery is almost dead

https://twitter.com/Philae2014/status/533403430489178112

shedweller wrote: »

That looks like a whole lot of science was done AND transmitted, finished off with a lash of flywheel!
I just hope the increased solar gain, combined with a good rest, will give Philae an extended stay on 67p.

It's possible that the latter part of that graph might have been the oven heating up.

But mission planners did grant the UK team Philae's last ounce of strength to heat Ptolemy's oven to 200C to heat up all the debris that had collected inside the instrument and analyse the gases that came off.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30209533

kandoola

Looks like it will be spring if they do get the lander back on.

Loopy the Squirrel

Their was no one on the comet to hear it land and it made a noise

The Sound of a Cosmic Touchdown
theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2014/11/the-sound-of-a-cosmic-touchdown/383117/


so that means if a tree falls in the woods then it must make noise aswell.

Science!

lol.

Iwannahurl

josip wrote: »

What would have been the point of further testing in 2014?

Wouldn't/Shouldn't they have done all the testing they needed prior to launch?

No evidence for this, but I'd imagine the anchoring system was tested early for general functionality. AFAIK the July 2014 tests were for the purposes of assessing the likely behaviour of the harpoon system, as Rosetta was on its final approach.

You'd think they'd also have tested critical components in space or even just ignite a few bits of guncotton in a lab-generated vacuum, but that doesn't seem to have happened. Rosetta was launched in 2004; it was nine years later before Copenhagen Suborbitals discovered that nitrocellulose was useless for their space exploration purposes.

Streets_of Rage 2 Come_On

Of the 11 Comets that have been tested for water like ours, only 1, the Jupiter-family Comet 103P/Hartley 2 was found to match the composition of Earth’s water. So we sorta assumed that's where ours came from.

Well, 67P water analysis is in and it's completely different from all the rest AND it's a jupiter comet. Where did all the jupiter comets originate from so?

So we are leaning more towards Earths water coming from alot (helluva lot) of meteorites and asteroids over the years.



Broken linkys,

http: // blogs. esa.int/rosetta/2014/12/10/rosetta-fuels-debate-on-origin-of-earths-oceans/

http / www. livecometdata.com/comets/67p-churyumov-gerasimenko/

Cork boy 55

@HeavyFe_H
Summary of the @Philae2014 results so far. We can maybe bring it back in the spring! #aas22

josip

Cork boy 55 wrote: »

@HeavyFe_H
Summary of the @Philae2014 results so far. We can maybe bring it back in the spring! #aas22

The Beeb yesterday were suggesting a May/June timeframe.
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30683860

_Tombstone_

Rosetta: The whole story

It was one of the most audacious space missions ever. How did it feel to be part of the Rosetta team as it touched down on a comet? As the spacecraft nears its closest approach to the Sun, Richard Hollingham recounts the drama, the disappointments and the jubilation of a 30-year quest.

rolion

_Tombstone_ wrote: »

Rosetta: The whole story

Thanks for sharing ... very impressive !
I love the format of the website, fantastic add-on to the timeline of the events !

shanew

Philae phones home....

mickmackey1

Amazing, back from the dead.

Marje

Information from Rosetta Blog (European Space Agency)

Rosetta's lander Philae is out of hibernation!

The signals were received at ESA's European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt at 22:28 CEST on 13 June. More than 300 data packets have been analysed by the teams at the Lander Control Center at the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

"Philae is doing very well: It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24 Watts available," explains DLR Philae Project Manager Dr. Stephan Ulamec. "The lander is ready for operations."

For 85 seconds Philae "spoke" with its team on ground, via Rosetta, in the first contact since going into hibernation in November.

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.

Philae shut down on 15 November 2014 at 1:15 CET after being in operation on the comet for about 60 hours. Since 12 March 2015 the communication unit on orbiter Rosetta was turned on to listen out for the lander.

More information when we have it!

josip

mickmackey1 wrote: »

Amazing, back from the dead.

As the local priest says at the funerals, "Life has not ended, just changed"

brevity

https://www.siliconrepublic.com/innovation/2015/06/25/susan-mckenna-lawlor-how-ireland-played-a-vital-role-in-the-rosetta-mission

_Tombstone_

Rosetta Found Sinkholes on the Surface of Its Comet

THE MORE INFORMATION astronomers gain about comets, the more mystifying and wonderful the ancient icy dust balls prove to be. And these days, they’re learning a lot. The European Space Agency’s Rosetta orbiter, traveling around comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko halfway between the orbits of Earth and Mars, has been collecting data ever since it arrived at its destination last August. And now, for the first time, researchers have used some of its images to link the comet’s activity—the tendency for its jets to spew ice, dust, and gas into the cosmos—to features on the space rock’s surface.

Those features are sinkholes, say Jean-Baptiste Vincent and colleagues today in Nature, and off-loading jet sites can form within those blotches on the comet’s face. Perhaps even more exciting, close-up views of these pits are giving the first glimpse at what lies beneath the comet’s surface.

What’s there? Dinosaur eggs.

Capt'n Midnight

_Tombstone_ wrote: »

Rosetta Found Sinkholes on the Surface of Its Comet

What’s there? Dinosaur eggs.

http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2013/12/11/Asteroid-that-killed-dinosaurs-sent-life-to-other-planets/2111386774990/

Researchers calculated the number of rocks that could have been dispersed into space after the asteroid impact at Chicxulub in Mexico about 66 million years ago. According to their findings, published in the journal Astrobiology, nearly 70 billion kilograms of rocks were launched into space, with around 20,000 kilograms of rocks reaching Europa.

The researchers only considered rocks 3 meters or larger in diameter, as smaller rocks would be unable to protect the organisms from the sun's radiation. They used computer simulations to predict the trajectory of these rocks, and how these organisms may have hitched a ride across the solar system.

"Any missions to search for life on Titan or the moons of Jupiter will have to consider whether biological material is of independent origin, or another branch in Earth's family tree," said lead author Rachel Worth, of Penn State University.
...
While many of these rocks orbited Earth or were slowly pulled back to its surface, others were attracted toward the sun or were slingshot across our solar system. Scientists believe 360,000 rocks reached Mars and only 6 reached Europa.

And the chances that life survived these journeys, scientists say, is 50 percent.

Capt'n Midnight

curiouser and curiouser

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0706/713018-astronomers-claim-comet-67p-could-harbor/

Distinct features of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, such as its organic-rich black crust, are best explained by the presence of living organisms beneath an icy surface, they claim.

ps200306

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

curiouser and curiouser

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0706/713018-astronomers-claim-comet-67p-could-harbor/

Wickramasinghe pops up like a bad smell everytime there is an alien life controversy to be stirred. He's into his fifth decade of wild claims about panspermia.

_Tombstone_

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

curiouser and curiouser

http://www.rte.ie/news/2015/0706/713018-astronomers-claim-comet-67p-could-harbor/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2015/07/06/sorry-there-probably-isnt-life-on-rosettas-comet-even-if-scientists-said-so/?postshare=2031436199815692

The great thing about headlines like these --

Philae comet could be home to alien life, say scientists

Philae's Comet May Host Alien 'Life': Astronomers

Does Rosetta's comet harbour ALIEN LIFE?

-- is that they're not technically untrue. But if a scientist or two waltzed into my apartment right now and said that new life had spontaneously generated in my leftover lo mein, writing an article titled "Miraculous new organism born out of foul takeout, scientists say" would be pretty silly.

All of this is to say, rather snarkily, that there probably isn't alien life on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, microbial or otherwise, and that most astrobiologists are pretty ticked off at the media's suggestion that there is.

_Tombstone_

Not a peep since the 9th, they reckon one of her antennas is broke. Comet is becoming more active/breaking up.

http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2015/07/20/rosetta-and-philae-status-update/

shedweller

I really feel for that little lander!
I know, i should cop on...

Capt'n Midnight

shedweller wrote: »

I really feel for that little lander!
I know, i should cop on...

Try this https://xkcd.com/695/

https://xkcd.com/1504/

Hopefully it will get moved again / dust will clear and it'll talk again. Maybe they'll drop the orbiter closer later on to try to talk.

_Tombstone_

Rosetta confirmed as two Comets mashed together.