Philae Probe Lands On The Surface Of A Comet

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
No word on whether they will be able to drill to a depth of 800 feet needed to drop the nuke in. :cool:

Touchdown! The Philae probe has landed on the surface of a comet, scientists from the European Space Agency (ESA) announced Wednesday. It is the first time a soft landing has been achieved on a comet. Shortly after news came, the probe tweeted: "Touchdown! My new address: 67P!"
Click to expand...
 
Comets have been hitting us for millions of years

We are hitting back

Time to avenge the dinosaurs!
 
and the lander shifts the orbit of the comet ever so slightly. 50 years later by consequence it crashes into the earth ending all life...
 
Been watching this through Twitter and xkcd. Well done European Space Agency.
 
thejokker said:
and the lander shifts the orbit of the comet ever so slightly. 50 years later by consequence it crashes into the earth ending all life...
Click to expand...
Basically yes, but longer than 50 years.

Big things don't hit us often because basically all the things that were likely to already have everything else had just the right timing for us to miss them. The small deviation we put on the commet's trajectory may make it pass a little nearer neptune 1000 oribit from now causing it to plow into earth or plow through the asteroid belt launching some asteroid out of it normal orbit which similarly affects something else which then plows into earth.

So maybe not 50 years from now, but 20,000 or 100,000 and if humanity isn't in condition to deflect it, extinction could come 10's of millions of years before it has to.
 
It's harpoons didn't fire though. They're trying to figure out what happened and its orientation. I'm still waiting to see pics of the surface!
 
I thought Captain Ahab was successful with the harpoons, but the docking drills didn't attach?
 
jpm100 said:
Basically yes, but longer than 50 years.

Big things don't hit us often because basically all the things that were likely to already have everything else had just the right timing for us to miss them. The small deviation we put on the commet's trajectory may make it pass a little nearer neptune 1000 oribit from now causing it to plow into earth or plow through the asteroid belt launching some asteroid out of it normal orbit which similarly affects something else which then plows into earth.

So maybe not 50 years from now, but 20,000 or 100,000 and if humanity isn't in condition to deflect it, extinction could come 10's of millions of years before it has to.
Click to expand...

well, maybe that tiny push made it NOT hit earth at some point in the future
 
I wonder if a rogue nation would cause a medium size comet to alter its trajectory just enough so it crashes say right into a major enemy's capital... hmmmm.
 
Ducman69 said:
I wonder if a rogue nation would cause a medium size comet to alter its trajectory just enough so it crashes say right into a major enemy's capital... hmmmm.
Click to expand...

Better bomb them before they do this!
 
Can anyone make out what this writing says? :confused:

rWHbPdY.jpg
 
I saw very little mention of this astonishing aerospace accomplishment in my newsfeed today.

Yet, my newsfeed was on fire over Kim Kardashian balancing a champagne flute on her morbidly fat ass.
What the hell is wrong with people?
 
7718 said:
It's harpoons didn't fire though. They're trying to figure out what happened and its orientation. I'm still waiting to see pics of the surface!
Click to expand...

It apparently bounced twice. The first bounce may have been as high as 1km and 2 hours long. They are incredibly lucky the damn thing didn't significantly rotate after that initial bounce.
 
Grahamkracka said:
It apparently bounced twice. The first bounce may have been as high as 1km and 2 hours long. They are incredibly lucky the damn thing didn't significantly rotate after that initial bounce.
Click to expand...

It looks like there may be problems though.

The first images where they expected to see a horizon apparently dont have one, and they're worried that the probe is either in a ditch or against a wall of some sort. :(

I really hope they work it, this has been a really interesting project to follow and read up on.
 
griff30 said:
I saw very little mention of this astonishing aerospace accomplishment in my newsfeed today.

Yet, my newsfeed was on fire over Kim Kardashian balancing a champagne flute on her morbidly fat ass.
What the hell is wrong with people?[/QUOTE]

Do you really have to ask?
Click to expand...
 
Its not looking so good at the moment, here's hoping they can pull a miracle out of their hats.

Scientists face a desperate race against time after it was confirmed that the Rosetta probe Philae is stuck on its side on comet 67P with two legs on the ground and one stuck in the air.

In a press conference Esa has revealed they aren't quite sure where Philae is on the surface but it is thought to have either fallen into a cave or next to a cliff in a crater in darkness based on images returned from the surface.

With limited access to sunlight, and only a maximum of 30 hours of charge in its battery, European scientists must now attempt to obtain useful data from the probe before it dies - or find a way to recharge its solar panels and keep Philae alive.

The probe landed yesterday at around 3.30pm GMT and bounced twice before it settled in its current location, just over half a mile from its target destination.

And Esa said that the probe had access to just 90 minutes of sunlight every 12 hours - which was enough to partially recharge its secondary battery once its primary battery runs out of power.
Click to expand...
 
Limahl said:
Its not looking so good at the moment, here's hoping they can pull a miracle out of their hats.
Click to expand...

Doesn't look likely. They knew there was a decent chance of not getting much sunlight in the first place. After the nearly $2 billion for a mission that was launched 10 years in advance you'd think they would have put a small Pu-238 power pack on the damn thing to power it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top