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+--- Thread: Have We Found Rosetta's Lost Philae Lander? (/thread-985.html)
Have We Found Rosetta's Lost Philae Lander? - C C - Jun 14, 2015
http://www.universetoday.com/120797/have-we-found-rosettas-lost-philae-lander/
EXCERPT: It’s only a bright dot in a landscape of crenulated rocks, but the Rosetta team thinks it might be Philae, the little comet lander lost since November.
The Rosetta and Philae teams have worked tirelessly to search for the lander, piecing together clues of its location after a series of unfortunate events during its planned landing on the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko last November 12.
Philae first touched down at the Agilkia landing site that day, but the harpoons that were intended to anchor it to the surface failed to work, and the ice screws alone weren’t enough to do the job. The lander bounced after touchdown and sailed above the comet’s nucleus for two hours before finally settling down at a site called Abydos a kilometer from its intended landing site.
No one yet knows exactly where Philae is, but an all-out search has finally turned up a possible candidate.
[...] Meanwhile, mission teams remain hopeful that with increasing sunlight at the comet this summer, Philae’s solar panels will recharge its batteries and the three-legged lander will wake up and resume science studies....
RE: Have We Found Rosetta's Lost Philae Lander? - Yazata - Jun 14, 2015
(Jun 14, 2015 07:28 AM)C C Wrote: http://www.universetoday.com/120797/have-we-found-rosettas-lost-philae-lander/
EXCERPT: It’s only a bright dot in a landscape of crenulated rocks, but the Rosetta team thinks it might be Philae, the little comet lander lost since November.
[...] Meanwhile, mission teams remain hopeful that with increasing sunlight at the comet this summer, Philae’s solar panels will recharge its batteries and the three-legged lander will wake up and resume science studies....
Interestingly, only a few hours after CC posted this, Philae woke up and communicated with Earth.
http://www.scivillage.com/thread-986.html
I'm guessing that what made the bright spot that CC reported was the Sun finally directly illuminating the Philae lander, which not only made it visible to Rosetta's cameras, but also powered up its solar panels and revived its electronics.
RE: Have We Found Rosetta's Lost Philae Lander? - Magical Realist - Jun 15, 2015
Philae was probably taking a much needed sabbatical after going rogue and eluding NASA's state of the art tracking systems. She's well rested now and ready for business again. NASA engineers can now sleep better knowing they won't be on the next round of layoffs.