17 replies to this topic

[Dan]

The Philae landing module has successfully detached from Rosetta!
 
We're only an hour or so away from landing on a comet for the first time in history - a comet the size of the city of London, 500 million kilometres away travelling through space at a speed of 55,000 km/h. Spectacular.

Here's one of the photos Philae took of Rosetta shortly after detaching:

 

 

 

Here's a video explaining:

 

Spoiler

[CaptainDantes]

The Philae landing module has successfully detached from Rosetta!
 
We're only an hour or so away from landing on a comet for the first time in history - a comet the size of the city of London, 500 million kilometres away travelling through space at a speed of 55,000 km/h. Spectacular.
Here's one of the photos Philae took of Rosetta shortly after detaching:
 

 
 
Here's a video explaining:
 

Spoiler

I love this mission. So cool

[Bone]

And it's landed!

[CaptainDantes]

Ooo. It appears that the harpoons that were supposed to fire to anchor the lander to the asteroid/comet never fired! It's still on the surface though - I hope it stays there

[w0nderwall]

I was watching the news during physical therapy when this was happening. Space science is awesome. :>

[Dan]

Ooo. It appears that the harpoons that were supposed to fire to anchor the lander to the asteroid/comet never fired! It's still on the surface though - I hope it stays there

 

Thankfully Philae has other mechanisms to keep it safe - I believe it drills into the surface as well as using the harpoons. 

[CaptainDantes]

Thankfully Philae has other mechanisms to keep it safe - I believe it drills into the surface as well as using the harpoons.

Oh cool! I hope there's an anchoring device for the drill too though. Pushing on the comet is going to have an equal and opposite reaction on the probe

[Dan]

Oh cool! I hope there's an anchoring device for the drill too though. Pushing on the comet is going to have an equal and opposite reaction on the probe

 

No doubt! I believe having the thrusters on will give it enough force to successfully drill though. Sounds like they've had issues with those though, too

[Mishelle]

Did you guys hear about the music they captured? This is so interesting I hope they find out what it is.

[Waser Lave]

Did you guys hear about the music they captured? This is so interesting I hope they find out what it is.

 

I believe it to be Clangers.

[CaptainDantes]

http://edition.cnn.c....html?hpt=hp_c1

It was fun while it lasted

[Kat]

http://edition.cnn.c....html?hpt=hp_c1

It was fun while it lasted

 

That's unfortunate. Hopefully it will get back in range for some sunlight and be alright.

[NapisaurusRex]

Did you guys hear about the music they captured? This is so interesting I hope they find out what it is.

Was it this? The sound of a speeding comet?

[CaptainDantes]

Was it this? The sound of a speeding comet?

PREDATOR! (never seen it, lol)

Weird, I mean it's outside the normal range for human hearing, so it was artificially enhanced so we could actually listen. I guess I just always thought (and was taught in school) that there would be no sound in space because there's no air to be compressed - interesting

[NapisaurusRex]

PREDATOR! (never seen it, lol)

Weird, I mean it's outside the normal range for human hearing, so it was artificially enhanced so we could actually listen. I guess I just always thought (and was taught in school) that there would be no sound in space because there's no air to be compressed - interesting

According to this article, there isn't sound still, but there's frequencies that we would be able to hear if there were sound. It didn't detect 'sound', it detected frequencies.

[Waser Lave]

According to this article, there isn't sound still, but there's frequencies that we would be able to hear if there were sound. It didn't detect 'sound', it detected frequencies.

 

Definitely Clangers.

 

[Emily]

Definitely Clangers.

 

 

Aliens playing the spoons. 

[Mishelle]

According to this article, there isn't sound still, but there's frequencies that we would be able to hear if there were sound. It didn't detect 'sound', it detected frequencies.

aw I wanted it to be clangers