Philae, the ‘happy lander’

[jakeXT]

"Philae is on the surface and doing a marvellous job, working very well and we can say we have a very happy lander," says Paolo Ferri, ESA's Head of Mission Operations at ESOC today.

During the second lander-orbiter communication slot, which ran from 06:01 UTC / 07:01 CET until 09:58 UTC / 10:58 CET this morning, "We had a perfect pass; the radio link was extremely stable and we could download everything according to the nominal plan," adds Rosetta Flight Director Andrea Accomazzo.

First analysis of the touchdown data suggests that the lander bounced twice before settling on the surface of Comet 67P/C-G. The lander remains unanchored to the surface, but the instruments are running and are delivering images and data.

After touchdown at 15:34 UTC (confirmed at 17:02 CET), a clear strong signal was received, with some breaks. Lander telemetry stabilised at about 17:32 UTC and communication with the surface was maintained until the link to the orbiter was lost at 17:59 UTC due to Rosetta's orbit; this was about an hour earlier than predicted for the target landing site (most likely due to local horizon interference).

http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/13/philae-the-happy-lander/

[Fred Sanders]

1. It bounced because the harpoons did not deploy....lucky it stayed on the surface...pictures soon....

[damyank913]

2. It seems to me that the ESA are releasing the pics and video really slowly...

...Why.

[jeff47]

5. They don't have gigabit ethernet between Earth and the comet. (nt)

[damyank913]

7. Now we know why...

...said one scientist. “The lander is relying on solar energy we’re getting one and half hours of sunlight when we expected six or seven.”

[jeff47]

8. Nope.

The lander was designed to operate on batteries for the primary mission. The solar panels are an attempt to extend the mission.

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

3. Link to the ESA Rosetta blog....

http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/

Have fun!

Sorry posted in the wrong place! But are two links better than one?

[jakeXT]

4. Philae lander 'on its side and in the shade' - but scientists say the craft is perfectly operational

The Philae lander may be in trouble after scientists revealed that the probe was bounced hundreds of metres away from its designated landing site and is currently on its side at the foot of a cliff.
The spacecraft is in perfect operational order but engineers from the European Space Agency (ESA) have confirmed that it is “almost vertical” with “one foot in the open air”.
“This has an impact on our energy budget,” said one scientist. “The lander is relying on solar energy [and] we’re getting one and half hours of sunlight when we expected six or seven.”

Philae has enough power in its batteries to last for around sixty hours of operation, but scientists are hoping they might be able to move the craft to a more favourable position using the landing gear.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/philae-lander-on-its-side-and-in-the-shade--but-scientists-say-the-craft-is-perfectly-operational-9858872.html

[oldandhappy]

6. This is so amazing and so exciting!

Thank you for the update posts.