Rosetta arrives at comet, Philae soon to land

M

Mikey

The Living Force
After 10 years, space'craft' Rosetta is now arriving at Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. The little lander Philae is scheduled to land in November 2014. A major assumption of its design is that the comet is made from ice, a dirty snowball. But a first temperature measurement from 5km distance now says:

_https://rosetta.jpl.nasa.gov/news/rosetta-takes-comets-temperature said:
ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft has made its first temperature measurements of its target comet, finding that it is too hot to be covered in ice and must instead have a dark, dusty crust. ... using the sensor to collect infrared light emitted by the whole comet, scientists determined that its average surface temperature is about –70ºC. ... Although –70ºC may seem rather cold, importantly, it is some 20–30ºC warmer than predicted for a comet at that distance covered exclusively in ice.
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It is one data point suggesting that comets are not just "dirty snowballs". We'll see what it actually is made of in the next months, and if the Lander will be able to use it's harpoons and screws to attach itself to the surface (which might be difficult when it's rock-hard). It will also be interesting to see if the -70°C infrared measurement is actually correct, since Robitaille argued that Kirchhoff's law of radiation is not universal and that it strongly depends on the material: _https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Hstum3U2zw (Robitaille, "On the validity of Kirchhoff's law")
 
Ooo! Maybe there'll be arcing and it will blow up! :halo:

Not that that would change their minds about comets being dirty snowballs...
 
The first thing they said was "oh, the comet became active far too early". Now they say "oh, the comet is way to warm to have ice on its surface". Later they will say "oh, this comet is a rock!". The conclusion will be "oh, its an asteroid behaving like a comet, damn, we are so lucky, millions of comets out there and we get a fake comet, what a shame.... where is the next dirty snowball to send another space probe?"
 
"After an invisible asteroid draws an astronaut and his ship to its surface, he is miniaturized by the phantom planet's exotic atmosphere.After an invisible asteroid draws an astronaut and his ship to its surface, he is miniaturized by the phantom planet's exotic atmosphere."
:D :D :D
_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8oFaM2qA8Q
 
Maybe it IS ice, "but not as we know it".
My guess is solid hydrogen, helium, nitrogen or oxygen, maybe a combination of all the above.
It must be cold enough for it to adhere together, perhaps by some magnetic quality, which might be why its surface is abraded by the positively charged protons in the solar wind.
This might also explain why comets have two tails, one is charged ions abraded off, and the other is neutral particles abraded off.
I'm still trying to visualise what causes the comet to be dumb-bell shaped, maybe one end if it contains the charged particles..
 
"I'm still trying to visualise what causes the comet to be dumb-bell shaped, maybe one end if it contains the charged particles.."
This explains it quite well! Proved in lab experiments to give the same shape as we se in space.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34wtt2EUToo&list=PLwOAYhBuU3UfvhvcT1lZA6KbSdh0K2EpH&index=3
 
Just caught the latest news about Rosetta Spacecraft Mission: "... it wasn’t expecting to get such a strong whiff so early."

_http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space-probe-rosetta-gets-a-whiff-of-comet-67p-and-thats-what-is-smells-like-pee/story-fnjwlcze-1227102621070 said:
WE’RE about to catch a comet. And it’s going to be whiffy. Scientists have for the first time found out what a comet’s tail smells like.

[...]

The molecules which cause the smell (ammonia, hydrogen sulfide and hydrogen cyanide) are bundled together with water and carbon dioxide. There’s also traces of methanol, formaldehyde and sulphur dioxide.

Scientists hadn’t expected the comet to be emitting such substances yet.
“What’s surprising is we already have extremely rich chemistry at this distance from the Sun,” said Rosetta Orbiter program analyst Kathrin Altwegg.
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So, the comet's tail smells like horse pee, rotten eggs, alcohol and sour almonds. Exactly what can be expected form a dirty snowball, right? ;)

The article goes on, to calm people down, not to be afraid of some small, insignificant piece of ice from space, when there are probably mean, nasty terrorist right there in our back yard who our lovely governments are going to protect us from if only we "ask" them to.

_http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space-probe-rosetta-gets-a-whiff-of-comet-67p-and-thats-what-is-smells-like-pee/story-fnjwlcze-1227102621070 said:
But there’s no fear of Earth’s atmosphere turning rancid if we were to pass through the tail. The molecules are in a very low concentration.

Even standing on the surface of the snowball in space, “you would probably need a good dog to smell it,” Altwegg said.
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Maybe the atmosphere won't turn rancid, but surely there are enough chemical (organic) compounds in comet's tail that make people think twice about panspermia theory and Black Death - Cosmic connection.

The bottom closure to the article itself contradicts the statement quoted above about comets as dirty snowballs.

_http://www.news.com.au/technology/science/space-probe-rosetta-gets-a-whiff-of-comet-67p-and-thats-what-is-smells-like-pee/story-fnjwlcze-1227102621070 said:
Meanwhile, the closest and highest-resolution photos of a comet every have been beamed back by the Rosetta space probe.

They reveal a rocky landscape, riddled with dunes, cliffs and craters.

Rosetta is due to land a fridge-sized craft on the surface of the comet to conduct experiments on its composition.
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Here are some of the photos. Dirty snowball indeed. :)

621016-e33eca04-5cb3-11e4-9c68-d403f5dcc36d.jpg


620274-dae05dbe-5cb3-11e4-9c68-d403f5dcc36d.jpg


619948-e62d0d0c-5cb3-11e4-9c68-d403f5dcc36d.jpg
 
Yesterday they said that we will see ice spikes. I still don't see ice spikes. :)

https://twitter.com/Philae2014/status/532836708661100544/photo/1
 
Interesting too how the lander apparently bounced quite a ways before falling back, and the harpoons didn't fire to secure it (hence the reason it's on its side).

Did the harpoons not fire? Or is it possible that they did fire but found something much harder than they were expecting and literally just bounced off the ground?

This seems to me to be a situation where incorrect assumptions has literally brought a mission to the brink of failure.
 
Lost Spirit said:
Or is it possible that they did fire but found something much harder than they were expecting and literally just bounced off the ground?

This seems to me to be a situation where incorrect assumptions has literally brought a mission to the brink of failure.
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Yes, I am thinking the same thing.
And now this problem with the battery. 1.4 billion euros and 10 years of travel are wasted for nothing. :rolleyes:
 
Persej said:
... 1.4 billion euros and 10 years of travel are wasted for nothing. :rolleyes:
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Well, not "wasted for nothing", there will be something to learn anyway...
A lot of money for sure, but "quand on aime on ne compte pas" (when one loves, one doesn't count) ;)
 
Eos said:
Persej said:
... 1.4 billion euros and 10 years of travel are wasted for nothing. :rolleyes:
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Well, not "wasted for nothing", there will be something to learn anyway...
A lot of money for sure, but "quand on aime on ne compte pas" (when one loves, one doesn't count) ;)
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The lander was just a small and apparently less critical part of the whole mission. They call it the "icing on the cake". The Rosetta satellite continues to accompany the comet as it comes closer to the sun and the lander had enough battery power to conduct 80% of the experiments it had on board.

So it's hardly wasted for nothing. Compared to the military budgets of the world, the cost of this 10 years mission is literally almost "nothing".

Plus, there is the possibility that the lander will get enough sunlight to load up its battery as the comet comes closer to the sun.
 
axj said:
and the lander had enough battery power to conduct 80% of the experiments it had on board.
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That's good news. The news that I was reading before were very pessimistic.
 
Persej said:
axj said:
and the lander had enough battery power to conduct 80% of the experiments it had on board.
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That's good news. The news that I was reading before were very pessimistic.
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My question would be: how important were the 20% which they didn't complete? Because if 80% of the experiments were similar to previous and the other 20% would be most revealing, then actually, it has been a bit of a let down.

I guess these failures should be expected though since the model they're working on doesn't incorporate the findings mentioned in the 'electric universe'. The last i heard, it had 'gone to sleep' (interesting wording), and had not 'recharged' once. Just my thoughts.
 
“We have collected a great deal of valuable data, which could only have been acquired through direct contact with the comet,” said Ekkehard Kuhrt, scientific director for the Philae mission at DLR — the German space agency. “Together with the measurements performed by the Rosetta orbiter, we are well on our way to achieving a greater understanding of comets. Their surface properties appear to be quite different than was previously thought.” [...]

“With MUPUS it has been possible to directly study the strength of a comet’s surface for the first time — and 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko proved to be a ‘tough nut to crack,'” DLR said in a statement Monday. [...]

Data collected by Philae’s SESAME experiment suite support MUPUS results indicating the comet’s unexpected toughness. Early findings also show a low level of cometary activity at the probe’s landing site and a large amount of water ice under the lander, according to DLR.

“The strength of the ice founds under a layer of dust on the first landing site is surprisingly high,” said Klaus Seidensticker from the DLR Institute of Planetary Research, lead scientist on the SESAME instrument package, which was expected to study the comet’s composition and electrical, structural and mechanical characteristics.

_http://spaceflightnow.com/2014/11/18/philae-finds-comet-harbors-organics/
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How strong can ice be?
 
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