Discussion
I just saw somebody looking at a photo of the comet on the live feed. Not sure if that's a new one or if they were looking at the landing site on existing photos.
Btw, if you have ever wondered what the point of Twitter is, this is exactly the kind of event that makes it shine. Both spacecraft have Twitter feeds:
Rosetta: http://twitter.com/ESA_Rosetta
Philae: http://twitter.com/Philae2014
Btw, if you have ever wondered what the point of Twitter is, this is exactly the kind of event that makes it shine. Both spacecraft have Twitter feeds:
Rosetta: http://twitter.com/ESA_Rosetta
Philae: http://twitter.com/Philae2014
Gandahar said:
The screws and harpoons will at least damp any bounce, so even if that happened it might still be ok. The rocks are more of a threat I think.
Yeah, as a diver I have had the "pleasure" of trying to hammer and screw things into stuff underwater (abit like zero/low G enviroment), if you have something to brace against (a thruster) its considerably easier and more successful.Fingers crossed it gets wedged somehow!
scubadude said:
Gandahar said:
The screws and harpoons will at least damp any bounce, so even if that happened it might still be ok. The rocks are more of a threat I think.
Yeah, as a diver I have had the "pleasure" of trying to hammer and screw things into stuff underwater (abit like zero/low G enviroment), if you have something to brace against (a thruster) its considerably easier and more successful.Fingers crossed it gets wedged somehow!
NASA always has a PA person giving a running commentary on the mission status which I find (usually) pretty informative.
ESA has gone down the route of a "stand up" type presenter hosting a kind of "interview show" which I don't think tells us an awful lot about what is actually happening.
ESA has gone down the route of a "stand up" type presenter hosting a kind of "interview show" which I don't think tells us an awful lot about what is actually happening.
CrutyRammers said:
I wonder if they've changed the final approach speed at all, or anything else, to compensate. As Eric says they're not really giving that much in depth information. The twitter feeds seem to be best, but they're a bit cutesy.
I don't believe they are able to change anything once Philae is dropped, its a one shot deal.What is impressive is this is mainly 90's and some 80's technology! It was launched a decade ago and built long before that, lead time is a big problem for deep space stuff.
Why is it a problem?
You design in the requirements you want within the limitations of the technology that is available to you at the time of the design.
Later probes can have more capable software on board if needed - and it is sometimes possible to upgrade the software on an older spacecraft even as it is flying through space.
You design in the requirements you want within the limitations of the technology that is available to you at the time of the design.
Later probes can have more capable software on board if needed - and it is sometimes possible to upgrade the software on an older spacecraft even as it is flying through space.
durbster said:
I just saw somebody looking at a photo of the comet on the live feed. Not sure if that's a new one or if they were looking at the landing site on existing photos.
Btw, if you have ever wondered what the point of Twitter is, this is exactly the kind of event that makes it shine. Both spacecraft have Twitter feeds:
Rosetta: http://twitter.com/ESA_Rosetta
Philae: http://twitter.com/Philae2014
Despite the fact that I despise twitter this is actually quirky and fun use of it.Btw, if you have ever wondered what the point of Twitter is, this is exactly the kind of event that makes it shine. Both spacecraft have Twitter feeds:
Rosetta: http://twitter.com/ESA_Rosetta
Philae: http://twitter.com/Philae2014
it is having teh effect of giving inanimate objects a personality even though they are millions of miles away.
I'm sure they got it from pixar....
full on science extravaganza bring i ton
I'm hoping to archive as much of the information as possible about this, and when I have kids and they are old enough I will teach them about this mission
I hope I can teach my neices and nephews about it too when they are a bit older to understand
BTW, im sure thre was a link in this thread to some telemetry data, does anyone know it? I cant find it
I hope I can teach my neices and nephews about it too when they are a bit older to understand
BTW, im sure thre was a link in this thread to some telemetry data, does anyone know it? I cant find it
Eric Mc said:
Why is it a problem?
By "problem" I meant you have to design and build for what your best-guess of the situation is, that knowledge can can in the long travel time of deep space probes- look at New Horizons, it left to visit a planet with one moon, since its left its now heading for a planetoid with several moons, it has very limited scope to change course and a fixed set of tools.Space exploration is like being sent to fix a car with tools from a 1980's garage and arriving to find a 2010 car, you do the best you can but without the tools to handle modern electronics you are basically in the dark
Rosetta was chasing a large round ball of icy stuff when it left, its caught up with a duck shaped rock ball of indeterminate constitution, its brilliant but its a victim of when it was built/left.
Eric Mc said:
NASA always has a PA person giving a running commentary on the mission status which I find (usually) pretty informative.
ESA has gone down the route of a "stand up" type presenter hosting a kind of "interview show" which I don't think tells us an awful lot about what is actually happening.
One of the ESA team tweeted that they wished they could afford a NASA style commentator.ESA has gone down the route of a "stand up" type presenter hosting a kind of "interview show" which I don't think tells us an awful lot about what is actually happening.
scubadude said:
I don't believe they are able to change anything once Philae is dropped, its a one shot deal.
What is impressive is this is mainly 90's and some 80's technology! It was launched a decade ago and built long before that, lead time is a big problem for deep space stuff.
Yeah, the 90s were like the dark ages, we were still using vacuum valves and stuff. What is impressive is this is mainly 90's and some 80's technology! It was launched a decade ago and built long before that, lead time is a big problem for deep space stuff.
They upgraded all of the software earlier this year, it's quite normal to do this with probes these days. They could have changed something overnight to modify the trajectory and hence landing speed etc. You're probably right that the lander can't be changed once it's been released, but it's not like they couldn't do anything before hand.
I'm sure they'll have considered all the options before deciding to go anyway.
CrutyRammers said:
Yeah, the 90s were like the dark ages, we were still using vacuum valves and stuff.
They upgraded all of the software earlier this year, it's quite normal to do this with probes these days. They could have changed something overnight to modify the trajectory and hence landing speed etc. You're probably right that the lander can't be changed once it's been released, but it's not like they couldn't do anything before hand.
I'm sure they'll have considered all the options before deciding to go anyway.
Oh I know, FFS- They didn't even have Facebook! :-)They upgraded all of the software earlier this year, it's quite normal to do this with probes these days. They could have changed something overnight to modify the trajectory and hence landing speed etc. You're probably right that the lander can't be changed once it's been released, but it's not like they couldn't do anything before hand.
I'm sure they'll have considered all the options before deciding to go anyway.
I only meant it'd free fall once dropped, they spent the last few days (well weeks actually) planning for and adjusting for the drop. I only meant that with hindsight (or the ability to get stuff their easier) the probe they've got might not be the probe they would have sent- for example some on board maneuvering capability would have made a world of difference given the comet they've ended up at.
FWIW, I've been impressed with the upgrades that have been done to the NASA Mars rovers, some have been incredible indepth, one-time only no recovery type upgrades- its not like you can walk over to them and turn it off then on to reset to factory settings or take it down the Apple store for a "Genius" to swap for a new one :-)
So to clear up the photo for anyone that hasn't been following the mission; the is taken from Philae looking back at the Rosetta orbiter (top right with one of its solar panels sticking out) and the big bright thing is the sun. 
The reason it's blurred is because Philae is spinning and the camera has a reasonably long shutter speed. They said this is exactly what they expected from the photo so it's all good. So far.
The reason it's blurred is because Philae is spinning and the camera has a reasonably long shutter speed. They said this is exactly what they expected from the photo so it's all good. So far.
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