First Comet Landing In Human History

  Quote

On 12 November, Rosettas Philae probe is set to make the first-ever landing on a comet when it touches down on Comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko.

 

Separation of the lander is planned for about 09:03 GMT (10:03 CET), and touch down should follow about seven hours later, at 16:02 GMT (17:02 CET).

 

 

Follow this historic event via live updates posted in the following channels:

• Webcast live from mission control: http://new.livestream.com/esa/cometlanding

Webcast will begin 19:00 GMT (20:00 CET) 11 November and continue (with pauses) to cover crucial mission milestones overnight on Tuesday and through Wednesday. Check the ESA TV schedule herefor detailed times.

• Rosetta blog: http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta

Updated with news and information direct from the mission operations and science teams.

• Twitter:

  http://www.twitter.com/ESA_Rosetta

  http://www.twitter.com/esaoperations

  http://www.twitter.com/philae2014

  http://www.twitter.com/esascience

All channels and webpages, including the Twitter, Rosetta Facebook and ESA Flickr social media accounts, are linked from the main Rosetta mission page: http://rosetta.esa.int

 

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

More images:

http://imgur.com/a/TKI3r

size comparison with a boeing 747: http://i.imgur.com/jf1IWp3.jpg

This is amazing.

  On 11/11/2014 at 3:28 PM, o00o said:

http://imgur.com/a/TKI3r

 

size comparison with a boeing 747: http://i.imgur.com/jf1IWp3.jpg

awesome pictures

can't wait for it to land

On a related space note, NASA's Orion Space Vehicle rolling out to Launch Complex 37 for it's inaugural test flight on December 4th. Good luck!!

So IDM

Godspeed to! Philae lander(er)

awesome pics

I really like this one:

there is more: http://imgur.com/gallery/zvM7V/new

  On 11/11/2014 at 5:00 PM, o00o said:

I really like this one:

 

there is more: http://imgur.com/gallery/zvM7V/new

A great album cover! :)

https://soundcloud.com/esaops/a-singing-comet

Armageddon outta here!

first pictures from the surface of the coment expected tomorrow @ 7 CET if everything goes to plan. fuck me that's so awesome/future.

This will be fucking cool. We'll learn shit tonnes about comet composition (and by extension, learn a lot about the composition of Kuiper Belt / Oort Cloud objects in general, and thus solar system formation etc etc). It's also fun to see how wound-up the Electric Universe cranks are getting over this mission.

Also look out for New Horizons' flyby of Pluto, which is late next year I think? That will be similarly groundbreaking / IDM

I filmed a lecture on this a few weeks ago. Can't wait to see the pics. The thing that blew my mind was the calculations it took to time THREE Earth gravity assists and a Mars gravity assist to slingshot it into space - see:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0q8peZzaA-Q#t=2911

First comet first served

  On 11/11/2014 at 5:41 PM, chenGOD said:

https://soundcloud.com/esaops/a-singing-comet

Kepler was right when he assumed that celestial bodies in their movements produced music. Musica universalis.

This is just blowing my mind all over the place.

Motherfucking science!

Shit like this makes me feel a little better about humanity. Why do this? I don't know, man, but let's land on a comet and see what the fuck!

  On 11/11/2014 at 10:50 PM, Tricone RC said:

Also look out for New Horizons' flyby of Pluto, which is late next year I think? That will be similarly groundbreaking / IDM

yes. very excite about that. also about this. basically about everything

  Quote

During checks on the lander’s health, it was discovered that the active descent system, which provides a thrust to avoid rebound at the moment of touchdown, cannot be activated.

At touchdown, landing gear will absorb the forces of the landing while ice screws in each of the probe’s feet and a harpoon system will lock Philae to the surface. At the same time, the thruster on top of the lander is supposed to push it down to counteract the impulse of the harpoon imparted in the opposite direction.

“The cold gas thruster on top of the lander does not appear to be working so we will have to rely fully on the harpoons at touchdown,”says Stephan Ulamec, Philae Lander Manager at the DLR German Aerospace Center.

“We’ll need some luck not to land on a boulder or a steep slope.”

“There were various problems with the preparation activities overnight but we have decided to ‘go’. Rosetta is lined up for separation,” says Paolo Ferri, ESA’s head of mission operations.

http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/12/rosetta-and-philae-go-for-separation/

bummer!

  On 11/11/2014 at 11:06 PM, Bechuga said:

First comet first served

First contact

*edit*

But this is proper cool, if it works and we can nail the technology then the scope for "hitching a ride" on comets in the future will be immense. Let the comet do all the work and we just sit there anchored into place chillin' in cryo sleep

  On 11/12/2014 at 9:25 AM, o00o said:

 

  Quote

During checks on the lander’s health, it was discovered that the active descent system, which provides a thrust to avoid rebound at the moment of touchdown, cannot be activated.

At touchdown, landing gear will absorb the forces of the landing while ice screws in each of the probe’s feet and a harpoon system will lock Philae to the surface. At the same time, the thruster on top of the lander is supposed to push it down to counteract the impulse of the harpoon imparted in the opposite direction.

“The cold gas thruster on top of the lander does not appear to be working so we will have to rely fully on the harpoons at touchdown,”says Stephan Ulamec, Philae Lander Manager at the DLR German Aerospace Center.

“We’ll need some luck not to land on a boulder or a steep slope.”

“There were various problems with the preparation activities overnight but we have decided to ‘go’. Rosetta is lined up for separation,” says Paolo Ferri, ESA’s head of mission operations.

http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/12/rosetta-and-philae-go-for-separation/

 

bummer!

 

Yeah indeed man - seems like that might significantly reduce its chances of a successful landing. We'll know in 1.5 hours! Nearly completed its descent.

  On 11/12/2014 at 2:38 PM, arvy Ictal said:

This is awesome. Thank you.

Absolutely breathtaking...

first image after separation: