Rosetta landing...

[T42]

"U.S. Scientists proud"??

[TimC]

Absolutely brilliant achievement! Stunning.

[mrcharly-YHT]

FGHJUTFGJ WOW!

[spindrift]

Fake. Wake up sheeples. It's a mock-up on Mars.

[T42]

Looking at the feed just now. Folk walking round with big grins. Great. Bloody wonderful.

H2S, NH4, HCN, CO2 & H2O already detected by Rosetta.  It'll be interesting to know what else is in the kernel.

[mattc]

My current employers made one of the batteries(rechargeable of course) now on that comet.
This was about a hundred years before my arrival, but my desk is next to a woman who had a big part in the project. She understandably took this afternoon off to watch events

[Biff]

"U.S. Scientists proud"??

Hey, they did find the Enigma machine and win the war you know. This was nothing.

[Andrij]

The update is over and there are no images from the surface. Hopefully we'll get those tomorrow.

What?!?  Are ESA staff actually going home for some sleep?  We want pictures and details now! 

[TimC]

Looks like it may have bounced on first landing and come down again. The harpoons didn't fire on touchdown, and without the thruster to push it down it looks like it's drifted a bit. Here's hoping it's ok.

[T42]

I heard that the solar panels aren't oriented correctly so it's not getting the power it needs.

[Arch]

I heard that the solar panels aren't oriented correctly so it's not getting the power it needs.

Could we all offer all our extension leads? We've got lots.

[Arch]

As people on here are pretty knowledgable...

Will the landing have had any effect on the trajectory of the comet? I know it's tiny in comparison, but theorectically, it will have made a minute difference, and over millions of miles, a tiny difference in angle is amplified...

Either that, or the sleeping comet-being, jerked awake, will brush off the nasty biting thing, and come in search of them what sent it...

[Kim]

Will the landing have had any effect on the trajectory of the comet? I know it's tiny in comparison, but theorectically, it will have made a minute difference, and over millions of miles, a tiny difference in angle is amplified...

Yes, obviously.  Rosetta also slowed down Mars (and Earth!) in 2007 by performing a gravitational slingshot manoeuvre.

The magnitude of the effects left as an exercise for the reader.

Either that, or the sleeping comet-being, jerked awake, will brush off the nasty biting thing, and come in search of them what sent it...

[andrewc]

Either that, or the sleeping comet-being, jerked awake, will brush off the nasty biting thing, and come in search of them what sent it...

Hammerfall........

[Cudzoziemiec]

Either that, or the sleeping comet-being, jerked awake, will brush off the nasty biting thing, and come in search of them what sent it...

I don't know what you've got there, but surely this is what you should be looking for:

[mattc]

Will the landing have had any effect on the trajectory of the comet? I know it's tiny in comparison, but theorectically, it will have made a minute difference, and over millions of miles, a tiny difference in angle is amplified...

Yes, obviously.  Rosetta also slowed down Mars (and Earth!) in 2007 by performing a gravitational slingshot manoeuvre.

The magnitude of the effects left as an exercise for the reader.

I suspect Arch wanted someone to work out the magnitude

Arch,  there is plenty of stuff out in "space" that will affect the comet's path in various unpredicatble ways - dust, solar wind, etc.  We're not interfering with nature here - at least not in that sense.

[marcusjb]

My current employers made one of the batteries(rechargeable of course) now on that comet.
This was about a hundred years before my arrival, but my desk is next to a woman who had a big part in the project. She understandably took this afternoon off to watch events

Cool stuff. Presumably we are talking about work she commenced well over ten years ago? 

The timescales are just astonishing in respect to a human lifespan; I work in an industry where everything gets redone every five years, thinking 10-15 years ahead is just incredible. Space scientists are like landscapers in this respect!

It is all a little mind boggling.

[T42]

As people on here are pretty knowledgable...

Will the landing have had any effect on the trajectory of the comet? I know it's tiny in comparison, but theorectically, it will have made a minute difference, and over millions of miles, a tiny difference in angle is amplified...

Either that, or the sleeping comet-being, jerked awake, will brush off the nasty biting thing, and come in search of them what sent it...

Yes but don't worry, we have Bruce Willis.

[rafletcher]

Will the landing have had any effect on the trajectory of the comet? I know it's tiny in comparison, but theorectically, it will have made a minute difference, and over millions of miles, a tiny difference in angle is amplified...

Yes, obviously.  Rosetta also slowed down Mars (and Earth!) in 2007 by performing a gravitational slingshot manoeuvre.

The magnitude of the effects left as an exercise for the reader.

The weight addition to the comet is apparently in the order of that of a 1p coin. Obviously there would have been some impact load too during the landing.

[TimC]

All three landings!

[LittleWheelsandBig]

But the effects of the 3 lander impacts on the comet's orbit are not additive. The lander and comet are acting as a system with a combined centre of mass.

[andyoxon]

Apparently (BBC) they're wary about using the anchor harpoons now in case it lifts the probe.  As to where the probe is, this is interesting...

In any event, it may have risen vertically or drifted sideways - we should hear later. Either way, while Philae was off the surface, the comet will have rotated beneath it. Each rotation takes about 12 hours which means the lander may effectively travelled across one-sixth of the comet's surface.

[T42]

Missing anchor kyboshes just one experiment, they're getting lots of other data.

[rafletcher]

However it may be in shadow, so may not be getting enough light to recharge the batteries.

[mattc]

My current employers made one of the batteries(rechargeable of course) now on that comet.
This was about a hundred years before my arrival, but my desk is next to a woman who had a big part in the project. She understandably took this afternoon off to watch events

Cool stuff. Presumably we are talking about work she commenced well over ten years ago? 

No; we post Rosetta an upgraded battery every 6 months. 

Factoid:
The battery has a sibling, i think it's still chugging away in the safety of a fridge a few metres away, to see when the flight unit is likely to degrade (it's mission started a couple of years before the more famous unit). IIRC they were never designed to last this long - I think the mission was originally aimed at a different comet? they put it all into hibernation so it could reach the Planet of The Clangers.