Philae has landed.

I was waiting for some actual ground pictures from the landing site, we didn't get too many of these in the first release.

The news didn't sound all that rosy from the media briefing on Thursday.

Hopefully they can do something to maximize the Sun it gets (re-orient the lander?) or hopefully it can still do all of its intended science, including drilling, in its current orientation. However, if it is partially sideways (is it?) I'm not sure how they will be able to drill.

Too bad the lander didn't remain at the original touch-down site.

a reply to: Soylent Green Is People
Yep, it is lying in its side. There are talk about trying to use its arm to reorient itself to a better position, all in all it is still a great success considering how many unknowns there were. Hopefully it can get enough sunlight to recharge its one battery.

Amazing feat for mankind no doubt.
now that that's said...
How come we never get to see anything for days during the landing ?
I've seen two pics of the surface. Black and white, because everyone knows
there is no color in space .

I would like to donate my iPhone 4 .
Yeah sorry not even a 6. But it's a huge step up
from that RCA Apollo 11 camera every agency still uses.
Just duct tape it to the side of the next lander..
It has better resolution and this
esthetic invented in 1935 called c-o-l-o-r

a reply to: UnderKingsPeak

There's a very good explanation here.

a reply to: UnderKingsPeak
Take your iPhone 4/5/6/1000. Put it for 10 years at almost absolute 0, and then put it in the oven a number of times, put it in the microwave oven a couple of times, drive over it a number of times with your car, and see if it still works, let alone take pictures in pitch blackness without a flash.... People don't realize what stresses electronic equipment in outer space undergo. The probe was built more than 10 years ago, what capability did cell phones had back then?

originally posted by: WanderingSage
Kinda cool, but I still feel like it's a waste of money, time, and resources. That's just me. Congratulations to those who think this will save the world one day.

Tish and Fipsy.

Americans spent more on Ice cream in a decade than they did the entire time the Apollo missions ran - yet Apollo gave us modern medicine, firefighting, clean water, farming, firefighting, solar power - the list is almost endless. It's all about perspective.

The process of achieving the unachievable requires mankind to revolutionise the way we use money, time and resources for the better and that's before the the benefits of the scientific discoveries of landing there are taken into account.

This is an incredible feat which will, at the very least, make us far more efficient at the way we use our resources as it's pushing the boundaries of what can be done with as little power as possible.

a reply to: bastion

You must like firefighting... you said it twice!
It reminded me of a clip from the movie 'Blazing Saddles'...... "You said 'rape' twice. (reply) I like rape!"

originally posted by: Soylent Green Is People

originally posted by: DigitalJedi805
...Presuming that this asteroid is moving significantly faster than said satellite; we ought to get back telemetry from much further out in space than ever before on a much shorter schedule than ever previously anticipated.

So... Anyone know? Is this now-asteroid-stationed craft moving through space any faster than our exploratory satellite(s) can?

The speed of this comet will slow down considerably in a couple of years after it whips around the Sun and starts heading back out again (it's hard to move fast while trying to fight the Sun's gravity).

Plus, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko is a short-period comet. It may have originally come from the outer solar system, but it does not orbit that far out anymore. The current orbit of this comet takes it out only as far as somewhere a bit past Mars.

The physics behind the above mentioned all makes sense to me; but it strikes me as odd that they wouldn't both: A. Intercept a comet that's already on its way out ( Unless they want close-ups of the alien armada hiding behind the sun! @_@ ), and B. Intercept a comet that's running at a much higher velocity.

Now having this information I have much less faith in the program - and have many more questions about it's motive. Why are we landing a vehicle on an asteroid that is doomed; and may not even make it out of our solar system?

I understand the use for testing the capability and such; but I might have aimed a little loftier...

Anyone know what kind of hardware is on the lander? Cameras, obviously, but anything else of mention?

ETA: Does anyone know what this comet is made of? Precious metals? Might seem a good reason to land something on it. Survey it for validity of the assessment of rare materials, land another craft on it on its way out of the solar system, and bring her into orbit for mining. Seems legit to me, right?

originally posted by: DigitalJedi805
...Now having this information I have much less faith in the program - and have many more questions about it's motive. Why are we landing a vehicle on an asteroid that is doomed; and may not even make it out of our solar system? ...

I'm not sure what you mean by "doomed". There is no reason to believe that the comet is doomed. It may have been in its current orbit for eons, and may continue in its current orbit for a very long time to come.

As for why they want to land on a comet -- that's because it is thought the the stuff that comets are made out of (water-ice and dust) have remained undisturbed on the comet since possibly the beginnings of the solar system. The lander has instruments that will hopefully be able to take samples of that "primordial material" and test them. Some of the things they will be looking for are organic molecules that may have been around when the planets formed, which may explain how the ingredients for life got to earth.

a reply to: DigitalJedi805
I am being lazy, so I used wikipedia. Here you go :

Instruments Philae '​s instruments The science payload of the lander consists of ten instruments massing 26.7 kilograms (59 lb), making up just over one-fourth of the mass of the lander.[14] APXS The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer detects alpha particles and X-rays, which provide information on the elemental composition of the comet's surface.[36] The instrument is an improved version of the APXS of the Mars Pathfinder. COSAC The COmetary SAmpling and Composition instrument is a combined gas chromatograph and time-of-flight mass spectrometer to perform analysis of soil samples and determine the content of volatile components.[37][38] Ptolemy An instrument measuring stable isotope ratios of key volatiles on the comet's nucleus.[39][40] ÇIVA The Comet Nucleus Infrared and Visible Analyzer is a group of six identical micro-cameras that take panoramic pictures of the surface. Each camera has a 1024×1024 pixel CCD detector.[41] A spectrometer studies the composition, texture and albedo (reflectivity) of samples collected from the surface.[42] ROLIS The Rosetta Lander Imaging System is a CCD camera that will obtain high-resolution images during descent and stereo panoramic images of areas sampled by other instruments.[43] The CCD detector consists of 1024×1024 pixels.[44] CONSERT The COmet Nucleus Sounding Experiment by Radiowave Transmission experiment will use electromagnetic wave propagation to determine the comet's internal structure. A radar on Rosetta will transmit a signal through the nucleus to be received by a detector on Philae.[45][46] MUPUS The MUlti-PUrpose Sensors for Surface and Sub-Surface Science instrument will measure the density, thermal and mechanical properties of the comet's surface.[47] ROMAP The Rosetta Lander Magnetometer and Plasma Monitor is a magnetometer and plasma sensor to study the nucleus' magnetic field and its interactions with the solar wind.[48] SESAME The Surface Electric Sounding and Acoustic Monitoring Experiments will use three instruments to measure properties of the comet's outer layers. The Cometary Acoustic Sounding Surface Experiment (CASSE) measures the way in which sound travels through the surface. The Permittivity Probe (PP) investigates its electrical characteristics, and the Dust Impact Monitor (DIM) measures dust falling back to the surface.[49] SD2 The Drill, Sample, and Distribution subsystem obtains soil samples from the comet at depths of 0 to 230 millimetres (0.0 to 9.1 in) and distributes them to the Ptolemy, COSAC, and ÇIVA subsystems for analyses.[50] The system contains four types of subsystems: drill, carousel, ovens, and volume checker.[51] There are a total of 26 platinum ovens to heat samples—10 medium temperature 180 °C (356 °F) and 16 high temperature 800 °C (1,470 °F)—and one oven to clear the drill bit for reuse.[52]

a reply to: butcherguy

Ooops, well spotted - the invention of modern modern breathing apparatus under Apollo is the perfect examples of how what seems like pointless science can be used to save lives, resources, flora and fauna (through fighting forest fires) etc...

Today's pointless is tomorrow's potential, to use a painfully cheesy phrase. I.e measuring the impact of solar winds can provide us with the info we need to advance solar sails to the point where traveling through space costs little and doesn't pollute due to harnessing the energy of the sun.

---

On a separate note - I have a degree in Applied Maths and good overview of Astro Physics, but know nothing compared to the people working on this program.

Why are the scientist behind this claiming the comet is 'untouched' when, under my understanding, it would have been bombarded with neutrinos, photons, EMR, cosmic dust etc...? (I'm not claiming this is any kind of conspiracy I'm claiming either I'm missing something, they're simplifying the case to make it understandable to the general public or it genuinely is untouched).

Is anyone more experienced in the field than I able to answer this?
------

As for the 'why is it black and white' claims - have you any idea of the amount of information and time it takes to transmit this info back to the Earth is full colour was used? It could take several days to get the data and in the meantime the probe could have completely separated from the comet - while they may not be the prettiest of things to look at, colour can always be added later and considering we think the comet is mostly grey, there's little point in taking full colour pictures.

Also like others have said, the tech is 10 years old, mobiles have gone from 'bricks' to smartphones since then -imagine what today's (SPica etc..) will achieve. It's absolutely mind blowing.

a reply to: bastion

yet Apollo gave us modern medicine, firefighting, clean water, farming, firefighting, solar power - the list is almost endless. It's all about perspective.

You overstate the value of Apollo spinoffs.
Plus you assume that none of it would have happened without Apollo.

originally posted by: Hellhound604
here is the first (UNCONFIRMED) pic of the surface as taken by Philae.

Apparently it bounced 3 times over 2 hours before coming to a rest...

I thought Comets were supposed to be made out of Ice.
Is that Ice?

Rebel 5

originally posted by: samkent
a reply to: bastion

yet Apollo gave us modern medicine, firefighting, clean water, farming, firefighting, solar power - the list is almost endless. It's all about perspective.

You overstate the value of Apollo spinoffs.
Plus you assume that none of it would have happened without Apollo.

The miniaturization of electronics may have happened but it would have taken a LOT longer without the push from the aerospace industry which got a huge boost from the space race. Look, I love Steampunk as much as the next girl but come on....

originally posted by: rebelv

originally posted by: Hellhound604
here is the first (UNCONFIRMED) pic of the surface as taken by Philae.

Apparently it bounced 3 times over 2 hours before coming to a rest...

I thought Comets were supposed to be made out of Ice.
Is that Ice?

Comets are believed to be made of dust and ice, but the ratios may vary from comet to comet. Some are dirty iceballs, and some are icy dirtballs.

Dirty ice may be hard to distinguish visually from rock. For example, the rocks boulders in this picture of Saturn's moon Titan taken by the Huygens lander are most likely water-ice boulders, but mixed with other stuff:



Source:
Titan Rocks of Ice

a reply to: Nyiah

I saw you in a post from SpanishArcher. Serious vendetta against the military don't ya. Well I never mentioned anything about the military. I honestly believe we could cut spending in military projects as well. So don't judge someone right off the bat. I did however mention other things we could spend the money on had you actually read, but that requires effort.

originally posted by: Nettlas
a reply to: WanderingSage

Are you for real? I mean come on! Can´t you see how this will benifit us all on earth? Talk about tunnel vision.

HAHA I don't have tunnel vision, but can't seem to see any benefits to humanity. But I can see the benefits in medical technology, eco-friendly technology and much better things that the money could have been spent on.

Just looked at the pictures and definitely not seeing how this rock will help mankind in any way at all. IT'S A ROCK!!!!

originally posted by: WanderingSage
Just looked at the pictures and definitely not seeing how this rock will help mankind in any way at all. IT'S A ROCK!!!!

Wrong.

It's a Conglomerate with a density of only 0.4 g/cm^3

If you could find a ocean big enough, it would float.