A little spacecraft is landing on a comet today. Confirmation expected around 16:00 UTC. - Polidicks

I will end the thread music discussion once and for all (though maybe a little late) with this. Vangelis (score composer for Carl Sagan's "Cosmos: A Personal Voyage" and other things) composed a song specifically for ESA and Rosetta: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUpSVxoCcik[/media]

Not going to embedded it because I don't want to go off topic too much, but I'm shocked that [URL="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hux23AXNccE"]this wasn't posted as an offering for thread music[/URL]. Also really cool stuff, can't wait to see more pictures. There is something surreal and inspiring when you see the surface of solar bodies.

[QUOTE=Furioso;46474085] [t]http://i.imgur.com/O2kTd4Y.png[/t][/QUOTE] looks like a farting space butt

[QUOTE=RobbL;46474508]looks like a farting space butt[/QUOTE] Dude, what kind of space butts have you been looking at?

[QUOTE=Furioso;46474733]Dude, what kind of space butts have you been looking at?[/QUOTE] the big ones

[QUOTE=Furioso;46474085] [t]http://i.imgur.com/O2kTd4Y.png[/t] [/QUOTE] Ummm, is that...? [img]http://aheinakroon.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/asteroid-worm.jpg[/img]

I'm disappointed. I remember reading in a book about space when I was little that comets looked like this maybe [t]http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/surface-of-a-comets-nucleus-asp.jpg[/t] I want this crazy shit But yeah though, are we gonna take this comet home as a pet? Do they even make collars big enough?

[QUOTE=Katatonic717;46475467]I'm disappointed. I remember reading in a book about space when I was little that comets looked like this maybe [t]http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large/surface-of-a-comets-nucleus-asp.jpg[/t] I want this crazy shit But yeah though, are we gonna take this comet home as a pet? Do they even make collars big enough?[/QUOTE] That picture doesn't seem too far off what we've seen actually.

Are we there yet?

holy shit this is fucking AWESOME this is a literal wet dream right now, is it? if it is dont wake me up

Wait a minute, what about the footscrews? Philae also had foot screws to drill into the comet once it touched down?

[QUOTE=LoneWolf_Recon;46476707]Wait a minute, what about the footscrews? Philae also had foot screws to drill into the comet once it touched down?[/QUOTE] Didn't work. The ground is too soft.

Did they attempt to refire the harpoons?

Here's the first photo from the onboard cameras after landing: [t]http://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2014/11/welcome_to_a_comet/15048351-1-eng-GB/Welcome_to_a_comet.jpg[/t] More coming later apparently.

[QUOTE=LarparNar;46478984]Here's the first photo from the onboard cameras after landing: -image- More coming later apparently.[/QUOTE] Is that after landing? I read that it was during descent. I find it really hard to judge size and distances from these pictures

That picture is after landing, yes. This is before: [t]http://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2014/11/rolis_descent_image/15044808-1-eng-GB/ROLIS_descent_image.png[/t]

[QUOTE=LarparNar;46478984]Here's the first photo from the onboard cameras after landing: [t]http://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2014/11/welcome_to_a_comet/15048351-1-eng-GB/Welcome_to_a_comet.jpg[/t] More coming later apparently.[/QUOTE] seems to be right next to a big boulder holy shit also new images might be coming through soon on the stream here [url]http://rosetta.esa.int/[/url]

Apparently Philae is stable now. [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30034060"]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30034060[/URL]

[QUOTE=Will Wright;46472353][IMG]http://images-cdn.9gag.com/photo/avZGG4q_460sa_v1.gif[/IMG] And here's the trajectory the probe. I know it's physics, but it still looks like sorcery to me.[/QUOTE] Orbital Billiards!

The lander jumped "about 1km" after the first landing before landing in a new spot.

[QUOTE=LarparNar;46479340]The lander jumped "about 1km" after the first landing before landing in a new spot.[/QUOTE] The escape velocity is only 0.5m/s, which just makes the landing all the more amazing. Edit: it's 1m/s

[QUOTE=Svinnik;46479291]Apparently Philae is stable now. [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30034060"]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30034060[/URL][/QUOTE] Still not anchored though.

How big are philae and the comet? I really have no clue how big it is right now.

[QUOTE=scratch (nl);46479547]How big are philae and the comet? I really have no clue how big it is right now.[/QUOTE] [img]http://d1jqu7g1y74ds1.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/rosetta-lander-2.jpg[/img] I feel threatened by this [t]http://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2014/11/comet_over_london/15037257-1-eng-GB/Comet_over_London.jpg[/t] [editline]d[/editline] as for Rosetta [t]http://madazimov.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/rosetta_l.jpg[/t] [t]http://www.esa.int/var/esa/storage/images/esa_multimedia/images/2014/11/rosetta_solar_wing/15035787-5-eng-GB/Rosetta_solar_wing_node_full_image_2.jpg[/t] black box tucked underneath is Philae [t]http://images2.corriereobjects.it/methode_image/2014/01/20/Scienze/Foto%20Gallery/ROSETTA-007_MGzoom.jpg?v=20140121115907[/t] [editline]dsfdssf[/editline] [QUOTE=Smoot;46479949]Apparently it took 2 hours to land after the first bounce. Wow.[/QUOTE] indeed, "magnetic field analysis revealed 3 landings at 15:33, 17:26 and 17:33 UTC" so, walking pace BOMP, 2 hour suborbital flight, BIFf, 7 minute boing, PAp, settle at edge of crater

Apparently it took 2 hours to land after the first bounce. Wow.

[QUOTE=Svinnik;46479291]Apparently Philae is stable now. [URL="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30034060"]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30034060[/URL][/QUOTE] [quote]It may be possible to reconfigure Philae's landing gear and "hop" to a new location, but Dr Ulamec said there may not be enough time to do the analysis required for such a risky strategy.[/quote] That would be REALLY cool to see, "Hey, lets hop over to that rock, and then use the footscrews to secure it."

[QUOTE=archangel125;46471954]We have the minds to make it happen.[/QUOTE] and you're not one of them.

so to clarify for anyone not clear on what happened, it hit in this pink square [img]http://puu.sh/cPe78/35b11485e4.jpg[/img] then bounced over the crater to settle somewhere in that blue area bounce visualisation someone did and a sort of radial panorama of all the surface images that gives you a vague idea of its surroundings [t]http://puu.sh/cPep2/7103e3fbad.png[/t] [t]https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B2VRgzUIcAEN-EG.jpg:large[/t] to my eye, judging by the lighting and topography in the composite image from the surface, it came down somewhere in one of these two circles, though I could be wrong [img]http://puu.sh/cPfCb/3235de040a.jpg[/img]

They got two days to attempt to reorient the lander before they lose the probe almost completely due to insufficient charging capabilities in its current location. They better hurry or these will be the only photos we'll see of the comet.

I heard them talking about abusing the fact that many of the devices create atleast a minute force, but enough to perhaps be abused for turning it around in such low gravity environment.