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Will Rosetta's comet landing succeed?

Will Rosetta's comet landing succeed?

Asked by: Super Userkruijs in Science » Space
Settled on 11/16/2014 23:25 Settled by Super Userkruijs
Winning option:Yes Images of the Philae probe moments after its initial touchdown have been published by the European Space Agency.

There was a nerve-wracking wait after the solar-powered Philae lander bounced a mile back into space following its first contact with comet 67P.

It successfully landed a few minutes later, over half a mile away from its intended spot.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30074258

Predictions

Yes
Yes
No
No

Background

A European probe awoke from a deep sleep Monday to gear up for an unprecedented comet rendezvous and landing this year that will cap a 10-year voyage across the solar system.

Once Rosetta shakes the sleep out of its eyes, the solar-powered spacecraft will begin final preparations to rendezvous with its target — Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko — in May, and then enter orbit around the icy body in August. If all goes well, Rosetta will release a piggyback probe toland on the comet in November.

From orbit, Rosetta will start scouting out potential places on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's surface to deliver a 220-lb (100 kilograms) lander named Philae. A final site is expected to be chosen in October, and the touchdown will follow a month later, ESA officials say.

When the time comes, Philae will be ejected from the Rosetta mothership and spiral down toward the 2.4-mile-wide (3.9 km) comet's core. When it reaches the surface, Philae will fire a harpoon to anchor itself and counter the rebounding force of its touchdown.

No probe has ever landed on a comet before, so success is far from assured. But if all goes well, Philae will study 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko up close with its 10 science instruments, using a drill to snag samples up to 8 inches (20 centimeters) beneath the comet's surface.

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/sleeping-rosetta-spacecraft-wakes-historic-comet-rendezvous-landin-2D11958372

Find similar: esa, rosetta, philae

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   Nasthir 'Nas' Amichand predicted No

just

   Super Userkruijs

The European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft has spent the last 10 years chasing down a comet hurtling through space at about 34,000 mile per hour — and if everything goes as planned on Wednesday morning, Rosetta will catch her prey.

At about 4:45 a.m. (EDT) on Wednesday, Rosetta is projected to catch up with Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and maneuver to enter into orbit around the comet — a first for human space exploration. The key event will be an engine burn expected to last about 6.5 minutes. You can watch live, via this ESA livestream:

http://theweek.com/speedreads/index/265899/speedreads-watch-live-as-the-rosetta-spacecraft-tries-to-orbit-a-shooting-comet

   Super Userkruijs

This week, on 6 August, a mini-laboratory developed and built at the UK's Science and Technology Facilities Council's (STFC) Rutherford Appleton Laboratory is due to rendezvous with a comet.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2014-08-uk-mini-laboratory-comet.html

   Super Userkruijs

The target of ESA's Rosetta mission has started to reveal its true personality as a comet, its dusty veil clearly developing over the last six weeks. The sequence of images presented here of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko were taken between 27 March and 4 May, as the gap between craft and comet closed from around 5 million km to 2 million km.

By the end of the sequence, the comet's dusty veil - the 'coma' - extends some 1300 km into space. By comparison, the nucleus is roughly only 4 km across, and cannot yet be 'resolved'.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Rosettas_target_comet_is_becoming_active_999.html

   Super Userkruijs

In a new animation the ESA has detailed the odd, but precisely controlled orbit that the robotic Rosetta spacecraft will take before it begins lander based investigations of the 4km diameter Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet.

According to the ESA, “After a ten year journey through space, ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft will reach comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August 2014.”

http://www.engineering.com/DesignerEdge/DesignerEdgeArticles/ArticleID/7127/Rosettas-Odd-Orbit-Around-Comet-67D.aspx

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