OSIRIS spots Philae drifting across the comet

[muriel_volestrangler]

These incredible images show the breathtaking journey of Rosetta’s Philae lander as it approached and then rebounded from its first touchdown on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 12 November 2014.

The mosaic comprises a series of images captured by Rosetta’s OSIRIS camera over a 30 minute period spanning the first touchdown. The time of each of image is marked on the corresponding insets and is in GMT. A comparison of the touchdown area shortly before and after first contact with the surface is also provided.
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From left to right, the images show Philae descending towards and across the comet before touchdown. The image taken after touchdown, at 15:43 GMT, confirms that the lander was moving east, as first suggested by the data returned by the CONSERT experiment, and at a speed of about 0.5 m/s.

The final location of Philae is still not known, but after touching down and bouncing again at 17:25 GMT, it reached there at 17:32 GMT. The imaging team is confident that combining the CONSERT ranging data with OSIRIS and navcam images from the orbiter and images from near the surface and on it from Philae’s ROLIS and CIVA cameras will soon reveal the lander’s whereabouts.

http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/17/osiris-spots-philae-drifting-across-the-comet/

[Judi Lynn]

1. Scientists 'confident' comet lander will wake up

Scientists 'confident' comet lander will wake up
By FRANK JORDANS, Associated Press | November 17, 2014 | Updated: November 17, 2014 4:52pm

BERLIN (AP) — A burst of sunshine in the spring could be just the wakeup call for Europe's comet lander.

Scientists raised hopes Monday that as the Philae lander nears the sun its solar panel-powered battery will recharge, and the first spacecraft to touch down on a comet will send a second round of scientific data back to Earth.

Since landing with a bounce on the comet Wednesday, Philae has already sent back reams of data that scientists are eagerly examining. But there were fears its mission would be cut short because it came to rest in the shadow of a cliff. Its signal went silent Saturday after its primary battery ran out.

Shortly before that happened, the European Space Agency decided to attempt to tilt the lander's biggest solar panel toward the sun — a last-ditch maneuver that scientists believe may have paid off.

"We are very confident at some stage it will wake up again and we can achieve contact," Stephan Ulamec, the lander manager, told The Associated Press.

More:
http://www.chron.com/news/science/article/Results-from-comet-lander-s-experiments-expected-5897719.php