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back to article Dark side of the DUNE: Probot snaps shadowy comet surface selfie

The fate of the ESA's Philae comet lander may be adding grey to boffins' hair, but the craft is still functioning – and has sent back its first panoramic selfie from Comet 67P's surface. Philae panorama Light! I need light! Click to enlarge Thanks to the space rock's low gravity, the probe bounced at least a kilometre over …

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  1. Mark 85
    Pint

    Amazing thing this.

    No matter what happens from here on out, it's still amazing.

    Rather than just a pint, the people who did this deserve a whole barrel.. each.

    Nice touch with the Pink Floyd reference in the headline.

    15 0 Reply
  2. Kevoc

    Dark Side

    "the Rosetta mothership orbiting the rock has recorded the "sound" of the comet's matter as becomes ionized."

    Not quite "Echoes", but good enough. Thanks ESA for the show so far. Shine on...

    5 0 Reply
  3. ravenviz Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    Let's hope the sun shines on the spacy diamond!

    5 0 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      "Let's hope the sun shines on the spacy diamond!"

      Is that spacy with a 'k' or an 'e' ?

      A cynic might note that wherever you go battery life is a perennial problem for mobile devices, and that favours the 'k'.

      0 0 Reply
  4. mi1400

    LMFAO

    LMFAO... this is atleast the 2nd time this has happened to Europeans... same happened to Beagle2 MARS disk like non motile robot. to me its more funny than serious... they always happen to be wrong side of stage saying Tadaaaaa!!!!! but spectators are on the other side .....LMFAO!!! :) .... On serious note if Chinese are reading this... you better check ur Moon lander software too even if it has to lifted from moon and flown back to earth.. it seems U.S is into something of Industrial Espionage ... to hide its shame of failed/rolledback space program they could be secretly denying other nations to progress. Infecting their stuff/software either during their design or intercepting and bugging/patching the calculations of landers with minor numerical errors, even the lander's cameras might be bugged to capture slightly shifted image. U.S has been doing this for decades ... they did this with Pakistan's nuclear program and infected machine designs so they remain stuck why a machine is not working as it should. Next is the recent example of stuxnet.

    0 63 Reply
    1. Anonymous Coward
      Reply Icon
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: LMFAO

      Syd... is that you?

      5 0 Reply
    2. Francis Boyle Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      It seems Philae

      wasn't the only one to bounce on delivery.

      29 0 Reply
    3. dogged
      Reply Icon

      Re: LMFAO

      A product of the superior American education system, I see.

      11 1 Reply
      1. Andy E
        Reply Icon
        Pint

        Re: LMFAO

        I think alcohol might be involved. I'd need a fair bit to produce the same quality of shambolic rambling.

        5 0 Reply
    4. VulcanV5
      Reply Icon

      Re: LMFAO

      Must admit, I'm a bit baffled as to why all that time and money has been expended on investigating the mysteries of existence by drilling into the surface of a far-off comet when drilling into the much nearer Planet mi1400 would've been so much easier. But perhaps there's nothing there to find.

      0 0 Reply
      1. Nameless Faceless Computer User
        Reply Icon

        Re: LMFAO

        If we harvest the ice we could bring it back to earth to reduce global warming.

        2 0 Reply
      2. phuzz Silver badge
        Reply Icon
        Boffin

        Re: LMFAO

        Planet mi1400 was only tentatively discovered 9 years ago, Rosetta was already in space by then.

        also, it's actually much further away than 67P (roughly 70AU vs 1-5AU). Plus, the scientists behind Rosetta and Philae are interested in comets specifically, as there's so many of them in the solar system, but we still don't know a lot about their make up.

        2 0 Reply
        1. VulcanV5
          Reply Icon

          Re: LMFAO

          The actual planet I was referring to was the author of the LMFAO post.

          1 0 Reply
    5. Stratman
      Reply Icon

      Re: LMFAO

      This is why cousins shouldn't marry.

      5 0 Reply
    6. Vic
      Reply Icon

      Re: LMFAO

      You really are a nasty little twat, aren't you?

      Vic.

      0 0 Reply
  5. monkeyfish

    Is it just me...

    ...or does that comet look like a giant arse?

    0 0 Reply
    1. Brewster's Angle Grinder Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Is it just me...

      Yeah, Kim Kardashian gets everywhere.

      2 0 Reply
    2. Sir Sham Cad
      Reply Icon

      Re: Is it just me...

      It looks nothing like Piers Morgan!

      6 0 Reply
  6. Gordo Rex
    Black Helicopters

    One would think

    that with all the brain power involved, they would have arranged to "land" in June or July when there is much more sunlight in the Mexican desert where they do these "landings."

    Ah, well, back to the bunker.

    1 0 Reply
  7. Trigonoceps occipitalis

    INCREDIBLE SCIENCE

    Thanks to the engineers who designed the Rosetta/Philae machine.

    0 0 Reply

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