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First Comet Landing In Human History

o00o

By o00o
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o00o Grand Master

o00o

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

 

ESA_Rosetta_NAVCAM_141018_D.jpg

 

 

ltRGo0m.jpg

 

More images:

 

http://imgur.com/a/TKI3r

 

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

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Tricone RC Experienced

Tricone RC

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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

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granty Veteran

granty

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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

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Nebraska Grand Master

Nebraska

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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

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o00o Grand Master

o00o

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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!

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Soloman Tump Grand Master

Soloman Tump

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First comet first served

 

First contact :w00t:

 

*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

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Guest skytree

Guest skytree

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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.

This is awesome. Thank you.

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