Monday, November 17, 2014

Philae shoots photos before going inactive


I included both the videos from Rosetta: Philae to land on comet and other November space events and Philae lands on comet in Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday (Philae lands on comet) on Daily Kos along with updated material from Space.com.  Time to return the favor and post the new items here.  Under the "if it moves, it leads" rule, I begin with Comet Landing - Surface and Descent Pics Beamed To Earth | Video.

A soft landing on the surface of comet 67P/C-G was successfully completed on Nov. 12th, 2014. The Philae lander and its mothership Rosetta probe both snapped imagery of the descent. Also, the first image taken from the surface of a comet is snapped by the lander.
That's the good news.  Here's the bad news: Philae Comet Lander Falls Silent as Batteries Run Out.
The first spacecraft ever to land on a comet has fallen silent, entering a potentially long, cold sleep after running out of power.

The European Space Agency's Philae lander completed its last transmission Friday (Nov. 14) at 7:36 p.m. EST (0036 GMT) before settling into a hibernation state as its batteries ran out. The probe had been studying the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko for 57 hours when it went to sleep, possibly for good.
Sigh.  It was nice while it lasted.

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