At about 4.30 pm Europe will land a lump of metal on a lump of rock and ice

Harry Palmr

Philae lander craft separated from the Rosseta this morning and will land on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko at about 4.30 PM GMT.

No doubt BBC and SKY etc will have rolling coverage of this, the Philae does have a camera onboard so there should be images (which take 30 minutes to get back to earth) as it reaches the surface.

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Live_updates_Rosetta_mission_comet_landing

Quite exciting

josey_whale

Touch down expected 16:02 GMT / 17:02 CET.

http://new.livestream.com/esa/cometlanding

KungPao

Is Bruce Willis on it?

Pumpkinseeds

Will Aerosmith be providing a backing track?:D

iDave

Will it make a Deep Impact???

Arsemageddon

Whoa there Professor Egg-head Mc Boffin!

That thread title is way too technical for me, less of the technical jargon please.

Reoil

It will try to land...

Princess Consuela Bananahammock

Will it cure ebola?

smash

Secretly, I hope this happens...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WoM2bHfr48

Lapin

No water charge comments yet?




AH has gone to hell altogether.

Duggy747

This is fake and being filmed in a shed in Yorkshire.

I can tell because that comet is clearly a potato.

Dar

Arsemageddon wrote: »

Whoa there Professor Egg-head Mc Boffin!

That thread title is way too technical for me, less of the technical jargon please.

Here you go

REXER

Rick O'Shea!

SEPT 23 1989

RTE News says the eagle has landed

Son Of A Vidic

KungPao wrote: »

Is Bruce Willis on it?

Hopefully with that one way ticket.

The Backwards Man

Duggy747 wrote: »

This is fake and being filmed in a shed in Yorkshire.

I can tell because that comet is clearly a potato.

If OJ Simpson and your man off Law and Order mysteriously disappear you may be on to something.

BoJack Horseman

The government gave away comet drilling rights for peanuts.

Son Of A Vidic

Princess Consuela Bananahammock wrote: »

Will it cure ebola?

No. But any ice/water found on it will be taxed and the bill forwarded to us Paddy's.

Timberrrrrrrr

If it's a successful mission then America will claim they made it all happen

If it's a really really REALLY successful mission Ireland will claim the lander's great grandfather (a dishwasher) was from Ballygobackwards and promptly issue an invite to visit followed by a new shiny supermarket somewhere in the middle of nowhere. :pac:

BoJack Horseman

Would a successful mission be the discovery that the comet has rich veins of peat?

The Backwards Man

BoJack Horseman wrote: »

Would a successful mission be the discovery that the comet has rich veins of peat?

We've had Space Truckers and Space Cowboys, I'd love to be a Space Turfcutter

V_Moth

XKCD also has a live thingy on Rosetta:

http://xkcd1446.org/

crockholm

If there are large amounts of metals on the comet,don't be surprised to see a modified transit van already there with a few "feins" loading up said Ford with bits of scrap metal found on the Surface.

Anyhow,hope it goes well,and looking forward to the documentaries on new discoveries that the mission has un-earthed.

Philo Beddoe

The Backwards Man wrote: »

We've had Space Truckers and Space Cowboys, I'd love to be a Space Turfcutter

Enabling me to live my dream of being a Space Turf-footer.

SEPT 23 1989

whats so special about Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko?

there MUST be something they are not telling us

Last_Minute

How do we know it isn't the other way around? That the comet isn't landing on the probe?

fedor.2.

Last_Minute wrote: »

How do we know it isn't the other way around? That the comet isn't landing on the probe?

:eek:

Duggy747

Timberrrrrrrr wrote: »

If it's a successful mission then America will claim they made it all happen

If it's a really really REALLY successful mission Ireland will claim the lander's great grandfather (a dishwasher) was from Ballygobackwards and promptly issue an invite to visit followed by a new shiny supermarket somewhere in the middle of nowhere. :pac:

Well, 2 Irish companies lent a big helping hand.

Space Technology Ireland Ltd designed a critical piece of hardware, the Electronic Support System processor unit, that helps it communicate between Rosetta and the probe and CAPTEC then developed the software for that purpose and support for other systems built by other companies.

Beano

crockholm wrote: »

If there are large amounts of metals on the comet,don't be surprised to see a modified transit van already there with a few "feins" loading up said Ford with bits of scrap metal found on the Surface.

Anyhow,hope it goes well,and looking forward to the documentaries on new discoveries that the mission has un-earthed.

can we really say that they have been un-earthed when its not actually on earth?

crockholm

Beano wrote: »

can we really say that they have been un-earthed when its not actually on earth?

Yes...hence the "un":D

Skylinehead

Duggy747 wrote: »

Well, 2 Irish companies lent a big helping hand.

Space Technology Ireland Ltd designed a critical piece of hardware, the Electronic Support System processor unit, that helps it communicate between Rosetta and the probe and CAPTEC then developed the software for that purpose and support for other systems built by other companies.

Plus we contribute to the ESA.

Duckworth_Luas

KungPao wrote: »

Is Bruce Willis on it?

Bruce was asked to be part of the mission but declined when told it would be quite chilly and he'd have to wear more than a vest while shooting up anything that moves!

rizzodun

Duggy747 wrote: »

Well, 2 Irish companies lent a big helping hand.

Space Technology Ireland Ltd designed a critical piece of hardware, the Electronic Support System processor unit, that helps it communicate between Rosetta and the probe and CAPTEC then developed the software for that purpose and support for other systems built by other companies.

Until the processor fries itself or the software glitches, then we can shout "Up yours Germany" like we planned it all along...

WoollyRedHat

It's like a planet corpse isn't it? Or a zombie one.. earthhhhhhhh earthhhhhhhhhh, terraaaaaains, terraaaaaaaains!!

Harry Palmr

Its landed apparently

wildefalcon

Harry Palmr wrote: »

Its landed apparently

Oh, good. Amazing technical achievement, that can only promote new technologies that will trickle down into other more mundane things.

More science, more potential benefits for us all!

Plus it means we have another source of resources if and when we need them.

SEPT 23 1989

is the camera and the drill working?

Zombienosh

I'll be very disappointed if there is no alien goo.

ScumLord

wildefalcon wrote: »

Oh, good. Amazing technical achievement, that can only promote new technologies that will trickle down into other more mundane things.

That would have already happened, this satellite was launched 10 years ago. It's basically out of date.

Warn the people of Buenos Aires!

Generic Dreadhead

Does this mean someone has won at a game of Civilisation?

Ruu

Kay Burley will be there with her space suit on.

MonkeyTennis

It left the immersion on... balls.

anncoates

Space exploration is just about the only thing left that fills you with the same sense of excited wonder as you felt as a kid.

Sorry, serious bit.

Pun.

rizzodun

Interestingly the Philae Lander twitter account tweeted

https://twitter.com/Philae2014/status/532564514051735552

In a number of European languages, except Irish of course

Timberrrrrrrr

rizzodun wrote: »

Interestingly the Philae Lander twitter account tweeted

https://twitter.com/Philae2014/status/532564514051735552

In a number of European languages, except Irish of course

Did it tweet in Latin?

ScumLord

rizzodun wrote: »

In a number of European languages, except Irish of course

They spent 13 years programming Irish into it but for some reason it can't say anything more than basic sentences and "pog mo thoin".

rizzodun

Timberrrrrrrr wrote: »

Did it tweet in Latin?

Ahh you got me, no, not that I know, it did Romanian though??

anncoates

rizzodun wrote: »

In a number of European languages, except Irish of course

Mission should be scrapped for this.

Generic Dreadhead

Looks like Europe has just won the Science Victory :pac:

rizzodun

anncoates wrote: »

Mission should be scrapped for this.

Tis a disgrace Joe....