The Philae spacecraft is now on the surface of the comet 67P / Churyumov – Gerasimenko , a historic event . However , we are not sure about its state . It may even be upside down after jounce not once but doubly . Telemetry seems to indicate that it has land three times . Updating live : novel picture released .
9:05AM ET . One of Philae ’s three leg might not be on the ground . So ESA is waiting to know the lander ’s exact position and then attempt to make it jump again to relocate it . Harpooning and drilling would be risky too at this point .
8:27AM ET . New paradigm from the comet . ESA just reassert that the lander is not parallel to the undercoat and that is the cause of the instability .
5:49AM ET . First CIVA images confirm Philae is safely on the aerofoil of the comet . That white-hot thing on the foreground is one of the lander ’s foot .
1:20AM ET . We will have to wait a few more hours to see if the lander is good enough to startle working . The worst case scenario is that the lander could be upside down after the second bounce . The bad than optimal case scenario is that the ice ass are not secured , so they would n’t be able to employ the recitation . They postulate to be batten to the airfoil for this , says ESA . The other mission object glass could be accomplished in this situation .
Wow , three landings . I ’m amazed it made it past the second – after two hours I ’d bear the lander could have drifted into any orientation relative to the surface and been damage on the 2nd landing . But understandably it survive if we have telemetry from ROMAP for the third landing place . I do n’t know if we have check of any telemetry after the third landing place , so it ’s current status is unclear .
Still , I suppose we may get telemetry even if the lander came down upside down . That ’s got to be a very material possibility now . I question how much science could still be done in that scenario .
1:09AM ET.Here ’s where the comet landed .
Unmanned Spaceflight exploiter Machicreated this grand composite image that shows exactly where Philae is right now . Thanks to Sploid readerIdentityMonkfor pointing out this effigy .
1:08AM ET.Emily Lakdawalla at the Planetary Societyreports that there ’s some troubles with the CIVA cameras :
The most - anticipated datum was from the CIVA panoramic imager . Although the tomography sequence executed , there was a problem with the data point that was returned to Earth ; it had black stripes or bar or was just disgraceful . It ’s unclear what went incorrect , especially since CIVA solve great during descent . They may enquire Philae to re - start the CIVA episode while the repose of the scientific discipline sequence is action ( they can evidently do this in analog ) in monastic order to seek to get this important image observation develop and on the ground .
2:27PM ET . That mean that we will have to hold off for tomorrow ( late night in America ) for newfangled telemetry and , hopefully , images . See you in a few hr !
2:20PM ET . The communicating tie-in was lose earlier than expected but ESA scientists say they are not disquieted . Rosetta is now below the horizon and it ’s now make a maneuver to regain middleman . They require to recover tuner connectedness in a few minute . This all seems like magic to me — it ’s all pass more than 400 million kilometers out from Earth !
2:17PM ET . unfit news . The harpoons did n’t fire , so Philae bounce and was floating for a while . Good news show . afterward , telemetry indicated that Philae landed again .
Above : An persona of the landing place from Philae , closer to the surface .
2:13PM ET . First mental image from ROLIS ( Rosetta Landing Imaging System ): The approach to the touchdown tip .
1:36PM ET . ESA has block up its livestream , but we are retain an eye on their other media .
1:19PM ET . Here ’s a ingenious experimentation that Philae and Rosetta will do together to analyze the social system of the comet ’s core : Phila will post grim - frequency radio set signal through the nucleus to Rosetta . Depending on how these signals exchange , scientist will be able to get laid what ’s going on in there .
1:13PM ET . During the chief deputation , Philae will take a full panorama of the landing place site . Part of it will be in 3D. ROLIS ( Rosetta Landing Imaging System ) will be taking high resolution photograph of surface under the lander . The investigation will bore nine inch ( 23 centimeters ) into the comet , grabbing material to feast to the on - board laboratory .
1:10PM ET . If everything is alright , the lander ’s elementary mission will last 2.5 days . But if we get lucky and the solar panel do n’t get jam by junk , ESA will be capable to extend its missionary station until March 2015 . That ’s the demarcation line . At that time the probe will be too close to the Sun and it will stop over operate because of the heat .
1:09PM ET . Telemetry indicates that the comet is on the surface ( hang on , buddy ! ) and images are still being download .
1:04PM ET . ESA is still analyse data about the harpoon and the small thruster that was going to counteract the repercussion . They may have run out .
But during the final wellness arrest of the lander before separation , a job was detected with the small-scale thruster on top that was designed to counteract the rebound of the harpoons to campaign the lander down onto the surface . The stipulation of landing – including whether or not the thruster performed – along with the exact locating of Philae on the comet are being analysed .
12:54PM ET . You recall I ’m kid , but it was delicious and now I want another one .
12:35PM ET . I take Matthew McConaughey to save me from the black hole in my belly .
12:31PM ET . This wait is pour down me . Literally : I ’m so nervous that I ’m eat uncontrollably . I just made myself a delicious fried eggs and bacon sandwich . Is there cholesterin in space ?
12:04PM ET . Still waitress for look-alike . In the meantime , gowatch the amazing short film that ESA produced to highlight the huge footmark forwardthat this landing imply . Directed by Oscar - make headway Tomek Bagiński , it asterisk Aidan Gillen — Littlefinger of Game of Thrones .
11:42AM ET . ESA says that Philae made a soft landing but they are making sure that the probe is securely attached to the comet . If they believe that it ’s not secure enough , they will open fire the harpoon again .
11:40AM ET . Philae will be captivate other information , of course of instruction , in its quest to bring out the mystery of the establishment of the Solar System , our own planet , and the ancestry of liveliness itself .
11:33AM ET . We will be seeing multiple images of this . The ROLIS ( Rosetta Landing Imaging System ) camera will be exact secretive ups of the landing place web site . The CIVA ( Comet Nucleus Infrared and Analyzer ) cameras will be taking aspect , which will plausibly be the most salient shots .
11:21AM ET . Wow . 25 years since this was designed . It ’s quite an amazing effort indeed .
11:17AM ET . Remember that , properly now , Philae is sending images to ground control .
11:16AM ET . ESA and state officials now congratulating themselves ( for adept cause . ) But I just want motion picture !
11:11AM ET . “ It ’s a major milepost for humanity , ” says ESA in their official statement . It ’s stunning indeed . 20 European countries plus cooperation from other international cooperator ( USA , Canada , and Australia ) have managed to land a simple machine in a malformed rock automagically , with a communication time lag of 30 minutes .
11:09AM ET . IT ’S OFFICIALLY CONFIRMED . Philae is talking to foreign mission control .
11:05AM ET . estimate from the stream , it seems we have received confirmation from the land , but ESA has n’t announce it officially yet .
11:04AM ET . WE HAVE LANDED !
10:32AM ET . We are almost there ! ! The landing could happen in the next mo and we ’ll get the effigy sometime in the next hr .
09:52AM ET . Three more motion picture of the Philae in its way to the comet from the Rosetta space vehicle .
9:24AM ET . We now have the first image from Philae ; it ’s of Rosetta , which is obscured some by the Sunday .
08:28AM ET . All the scientific data has arrived in arrant conditions , as expected , and now they are process it .
08:00AM ET . First scientific data software from Philae is fare . But seems that we ’ll have to look 15 minutes more for its revealing .
07:50AM ET . We ’ll have the first pictures ( NavCam ) in one hour more or less .
07:26AM ET . landing place gear has been deployed .
06:06AM ET . Paolo Ferri , capitulum of mission operations , confirm signal from Rossetta and Philae is back again .
04:05AM ET . confirm : The lander Philae has distinguish and it ’s now flying to comet 67P / Churyumov – Gerasimenko . Philae may receive data that will help us understand how the Solar System was formed and even the establishment of life in our planet .
03:56AM ET . We are now waiting for ratification of the lander separation from its mothership . We will lie with if the detachment pass well in 30 minutes .
03:45AM ET . Live insurance coverage has resumed .
03:36AM ET . Oh waitress , I ’m so sleepy-eyed I forgot there was a postponement over the original rejoinder . legal separation should be at 4:03ET . Landing at 10:02ET , if all goes as expected . To rouse me upI watched this television of a mind OR , which grossed me out but I found incredibly fascinating — and weirdly satisfying .
03:25AM ET . Almost there . 10 minutes , according to ESA ’s counter .
02:25AM ET . Mission control has confirmed that all system are go and they have sent the mastery to the lander for detachment .
02:13AM ET . ESA has started their retransmission of the event . The lander is operating already , with its first instrument already figure out — ROMAP . It ’s already part to collect data on the comet ’s magnetised field and plasma environment .
01:25AM ET . Here ’s an image of what Philae will do if it successfully lands on the comet :
01:10AM ET . How big is this comet ? Bigger than New York . checker out these images of the comet compared to a Boeing 747 .
00:58AM ET . We are two time of day and 36 minutes from breakup .
00:37AM ET . It ’s really awesome that we have extend to this point . Remember that Rosetta has been in space for yr waiting for this moment . It drop a book 31 month asleepwaiting for the minute to arrive . Now , Philae will attempt to bring down on the comet ’s surface using two harpoons and three screws to stop up itself open . Here ’s a video of how this will work :
00:21AM ET . concord to mission control , all systems are go for the interval of the lander Philae . Theofficial ESA stream is here .
https://livestream.com/accounts/362/events/3544091/player?autoPlay=false&mute=false
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