First ever Comet Landing: Live Feed

Couple of pictures from the lander on approach-

Another pic from the lander. Seems it may have bounced on initial landing anything up to a 1km!
Still not attached, but somehow its sitting on the surface anyway. They are also concerned about drilling without it being properly attached incase that shoves it off into space. And its also possibly its on its side.

orbital velocity is 1/(root 2) of escape velocity, so a real slow shuffle. But that's for a spherical object, if too close to this thing the orbital speed will be all over the map.

Looking at that last lander image: did it just barely miss a big gnarly looking boulder? THAT would have been a rough landing!

I love how they spent so much time planning where to land, only to have the damn thing bounce!

halfwise wrote:orbital velocity is 1/(root 2) of escape velocity, so a real slow shuffle.  But that's for a spherical object, if too close to this thing the orbital speed will be all over the map.

Apparently they're about 30 km above the surface. That's pretty high considering how little gravity there is. I bet it's more like a snails pace.

Wikipedia wrote:In August 2014, Rosetta rendezvoused with the comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko (67P) and commenced a series of manoeuvres that took it on two successive triangular paths, averaging 100 and 50 kilometres (62 and 31 mi) from the nucleus, whose segments are hyperbolic escape trajectories alternating with thruster burns. After closing to within about 30 km (19 mi) from the comet on 10 September, the spacecraft entered actual orbit about it.

The surface layout of 67P was unknown before Rosetta '​s arrival. The orbiter mapped the comet in anticipation of detaching its lander. By 25 August 2014, five potential landing sites had been determined.

Another pic, this one from Rosetta showing the lander (ringed in red) on the way-

That's one deep-ass shadow!

Yup. The latest problem now, and it might be a biggie, is that they think where it might have ended up gets hardly any light, which is a bit of a snag as its solar powered.

1.5 hours per rotation versus 6 or 7. Don't know how long a rotation is, but they are still down to a fraction of what they were planning for.

Well it didnt take long-

I aint gonna completely laugh this off. Im not saying either, that, theres these guys running around but for years I always wondered WHY was SO much money sunk into the investigation of Space, especially when that money could cure a lot of ills on THIS planet ? I wouldnt be shocked if there WAS something odd going on that stronger Government powers are shutting us away from.

Well, let's see how to put this in perspective. The Hobbit trilogy has cost about $600 million to make, while the comet mission has cost about twice that.

For the same price, would you rather have TWO Hobbit trilogies, or learn something about comets?

halfwise wrote:For the same price, would you rather have TWO Hobbit trilogies....?

point taken but, I still think its weird !



IL remind you of comets when this happens to Dave !

Well in addition to the scientific research incentive (which tbh is probably a secondary consideration for most politicians) space development has given us lots of ancillary technological benefits, as well as opening up numerous commercial and military possibilities with satellites in low earth orbit. There might be future industries that will emerge through scientific progress as well, such as asteroid mining, though that remains a long way off in terms of being cost effective.

I would have compared it to spending on the arts, except that the total annual US Federal government expenditure on the arts is equal to a single Hobbit movie. Now THAT should be alarming.

space development has given us lots of ancillary technological benefits, as well as opening up numerous commercial and military possibilities- Eldo

Yeah that tends to happen, when your going out and stealing alien tech off comets!

Love the gif Azriel

this is so cool.

Yup it is. i was just out having a roll up and a chat with a mate, clear sky full of stars and thinking somewhere out there beyond mars a probe the size of a washing machine is flying through space on the back of a comet, And humanity put it there.
Just sometimes we almost seem worth saving.

Does "roll up" mean the same in Scotland as it does in California?

But consider Petty, all the other things that are happening here on earth at the same time as this little probe is whizzing by on the back of a comet.

Does "roll up" mean the same in Scotland as it does in California?- Forest

I dont now, Ive never been to California!
Its a hand rolled cigarette- you get a cigarette paper, put some baccy in it and roll it up and smoke it. Often referred to as a 'rollie'.

10 hours or less they reckon before the lander runs out of power. (Maybe the aliens on the comet will repower it for us!)

So the probe has been in radio shadow overnight, no real reason for a full blown media event without more data.  Other than lusting over Valentina Lommats I decided my time is best spent elsewhere.

Forest and Azriel seem to be doubting the value of this, thinking the effort and money would be better spent on the people who need it.  A worthy sentiment, but do you think the same thing every time you plunk down money to go spend a couple hours watching a film?

Just as individual humans are multi-faceted and can't be expected to spend all their efforts taking care of each other, humanity is the same.  It would be boring otherwise.  Knowing the way things work is as mentally enriching as going to the theater, at least to some of us.  What's the use of life if focussed solely on the essentials?  A lot of nice things come from directing attention elsewhere.  I agree governments don't always do a good job looking after their own, but they should also toss us some extras here and there.

I actually do think this is an exciting phase of our history right now Halfy I do think revisiting the moon when its been investigated before seems unworthy, unless you really CAN find something ?