Rosetta - Philae landing on Comet 67P

Frantic work going on this morning with the Philae lander. It looks like ESA are throwing caution to the wind, as it's likely that Philae only has 24 hours before the power runs out.

First of all, MUPUS (Multi-Purpose Sensors for Surface and Subsurface Science) started its work, to measure the density, thermal and mechanical properties of the surface. This involved hammering a penetrator into the surface. As things stand, it seems as if they have received all of the science data back, which is fantastic news.

Also, APXS (Alpha Proton X-ray Spectrometer) is operational. It's designed to determine the chemical composition of the Philae landing site. The instrument will be lowered to ~4 cm from the ground and will detect alpha particles and X-rays.

All of this means that Philae should be able to do all of the science that it was designed to do. Again, fantastic news.

OK, so the batteries will probably die tomorrow. All that means is that the extended mission can't be done. The primary mission though looks like being a resounding success.

Oh, and they still haven't found the lander 🙂

Oh, and they still haven’t found the lander

It's been eaten by alien comet monsters.

ESA Google Hangout has started just now:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Xm6y0LzlLo

Thats great news!

SO Philae will shine brightly and die young 🙂

Quite a battle and a race against time they're having, huh? Fingers crossed for the battery to last long enough for uplinks this evening. If it doesnt survive until then there is still hope for contact when it gets nearer the sun powering the solar panel battery.

Of course all this struggle will be unnecessary if those useless aliens could just give us a hand. I mean is it so much to ask for them to nudge Philae out of the shadow? hmphh

Philae is in a corner surrounded by rock (location as yet unknown). Wondered if this was the case. Wondering if this is enough to hold down Philae while the drills activated… Perhaps this is why scientists have decided to take a chance and go ahead with this… Christina speculation… !

SO Philae will shine brightly and die young

They say that only the good die young but I have hope! STAY WITH US PHILAE!

They say that only the good die young but I have hope! STAY WITH US PHILAE!

Altogether now, "I do believe in Philae, I do believe in Philae..."!

Perhaps this is why scientists have decided to take a chance and go ahead with this…

..sounds like it's because of the solar panels. They want to get data before the power runs out (as Mike mentioned earlier). Guess the pros for carrying out tasks now outweighs the risks of missing the opportunity altogether.

We're losing Philae 🙁

Here's the latest from Twitter:

So much hard work.. getting tired... my battery voltage is approaching the limit soon now pic.twitter.com/GHl4B8NPzm

— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) November 14, 2014

oh man, Philae's tweeting is tugging on my heart strings...you can do it Philae!

It is with great regret to report that the connection with Philae stopped at 00.36 GMT.

Sleep tight little one!

Worth remembering that Rosetta is still orbiting and collecting data!

What an emotional rollercoaster that was. Philae did a brilliant job... way, way beyond what I expected of it. Only a few days ago, most people thought it would crash into the comet and never be heard of again.

Who knows, the successful rotation of the solar panels may mean that Philae wakes up again at some point in the future. The only problem is... if it wakes up, will anyone be listening? Let's hope so.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30058176

That was certainly an emotionally rollercoaster ride.  Philae, brave warrior and hard worker to the last breath and now sleeps again.  A Towering achievement not just in planning and execution but also on their incredible improvisations to maximise the best performance over the unexpected obstacles.  And its not even the end of it for the team, far from it with Rosetta collecting more data on the comet transitioning as it gets closer to the sun and potentially Philae waking up again to continue its data upload (thanks again to their clever thinking to maneuvre the Philae for best solar energy pickup). Even more exciting times ahead.

Thanks for all the updates everyone in this specially momentous week.  It was great sharing the thrills and emotions with all of you!

I agree that it was an awesome achievement and an exciting event with some excellent science data already collected but may I remind you that it is a machine and not an animal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!