Sign in / up

back to article Rosetta science team thinks Philae might come to life in the spring

Scientists on the Rosetta comet mission team report they are confident that the Philae lander is not down for the count and should be revived in the spring or summer of next year once it has had a chance to warm up a bit. "We expect to have enough energy to boot around March next year. Then Philae needs to be heated until we …

COMMENTS

Post your comment
House rules Send corrections
Add to 'My topics' unstar *
  1. Zog_but_not_the_first
    Thumb Up

    Renvevous with Philae

    Coming to life as it approaches the sun. I thought this sounded familiar.

    The most exciting space mission for ages. Keep up the coverage please.

    6 0 Reply
    1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Renvevous with Philae

      ...and the Ramans do everything in threes.

      4 0 Reply
    2. Zog_but_not_the_first
      Reply Icon
      Facepalm

      Re: Renvevous with Philae

      Lordy what a typo!

      2 0 Reply
  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Faced to detonate?

    "The lander bounced kilometers from original landing site after the explosives that were supposed to fire twin harpoons into the comet's surface faced to detonate."

    Faced to detonate?

    Also, kilometers or kilometres?

    0 0 Reply
    1. Lionel Baden
      Reply Icon
      Facepalm

      Re: Faced to detonate?

      Just click on tips and corrections.

      3 0 Reply
    2. Colin Miller
      Reply Icon

      Re: Faced to detonate?

      Kilometer is the 'Merkin spelling. Although why the ESA are using en-US is a different matter.

      1 0 Reply
    3. Robert Helpmann??
      Reply Icon
      Childcatcher

      Re: Faced to detonate?

      Also, kilometers or kilometres?

      Indeed, that should be brontosauruses!

      0 0 Reply
  3. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

    In the meantime

    Bored by waiting, NASA has made a nice 3D composite of a pair of the comet 67p's pictures it got from ESA :-)

    0 0 Reply
  4. Pascal Monett Silver badge

    Now that's a cliffhanger !

    Will Philae wake up and keep her position as Comet Maid ?

    Will Mr Outgassing fire her without notice ?

    Will Rosetta survive the transit on the Other Side of the Sun ?

    Come back for Space Comet : Season 2 in March 2015 !

    (when they just might finally find that alien beer keg)

    1 0 Reply
    1. Mark 85
      Reply Icon

      Re: Now that's a cliffhanger !

      You forgot to cue the organ (pipe organ preferably) music at the "Come Back for..". Every good soap opera... er.. space opera needs appropriate organ music*.

      Showing my age... back in the b&w days of live tv, my mom watched the soaps and we kids had to wait for the organ music before we could ask anything...

      0 0 Reply
  5. s. pam Silver badge
    Thumb Up

    I want some shirts

    like Dr Matt Taylor's shirts !!!

    Awesome to have geekiness dressed so well and fabulous to have one of arisetta's leaders feeling comfortable and not being a suited & booted PR monkey!!!

    0 0 Reply
    1. F0rdPrefect
      Reply Icon

      Re: I want some shirts

      The lady who made it for him, from commercially available material, was in my local paper a week or so back.

      £150 a shirt!

      http://www.essexchronicle.co.uk/Chelmsford-woman-Elly-Prizeman-hits-sexist/story-24562531-detail/story.html

      0 0 Reply
  6. Mister_C

    "Philae's discovery of quite how hard the comet is was also a major piece of news"

    Kinda nice that the harpoons didn't fire then. It could've been a Willey Coyote moment as the fridge launched itself back into spaaaaace.

    And a bit embarassing to explain...

    3 0 Reply
    1. handle
      Reply Icon

      Hard surface

      They would have catered for the situation of the surface being hard, with, for instance, the thruster.

      ...except that that didn't work either!

      Evil-looking things those harpoons.

      1 0 Reply
      1. cortland
        Reply Icon

        Re: Hard surface

        "Evil-looking things those harpoons."

        Were we expecting lampoons? heh!

        1 0 Reply
        1. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
          Reply Icon
          Coat

          Re: Hard surface

          No, they were expecting the Spanish inquisition, or were they?

          I'll get me coat

          0 0 Reply

  7. This post has been deleted by its author

  8. breakfast Silver badge

    A big surprise

    "Surprised by hardness" is quite possibly a Spinal Tap album title contender.

    1 0 Reply
    1. Zog_but_not_the_first
      Reply Icon
      Coat

      Re: A big surprise

      Smell the comet

      2 0 Reply
  9. Graham Marsden
    Facepalm

    Shirts???

    Scientists - "We've just landed a probe on a comet!"

    Media - "Yeah, whatever. Have you seen the *shirt* that guy is wearing?!"

    5 0 Reply
  10. Crysknife007

    Ambient Sleep Sound Made From the Comet's EM Emissions

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA_J_3xyt8g&list=UUF6R1ZDskjCeBMomUGCtxXw

    0 0 Reply
    1. I ain't Spartacus Gold badge
      Reply Icon

      Re: Ambient Sleep Sound Made From the Comet's EM Emissions

      Well done for passing on the alien mind control sound to even more people! Now they'll all be infec...

      ...

      ...

      ...

      I serve the Might Space Duck!

      All Hail the Mighty Space Duck!

      Praise to his harpoon defying power and his holy bounciness!

      We must march on Darmstadt and kill the trespassers on Holy ground!

      Hail Duck!

      2 0 Reply
      1. weegie38
        Reply Icon

        Re: Ambient Sleep Sound Made From the Comet's EM Emissions

        To be fair, Darmstadt bears responsibility for a lot of crimes against music: the ultra-serialists like Stockhausen, Boulez and Nono were all products of the so-called "Darmstadt School".

        0 0 Reply
  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    ambient sleep sound

    Listen to the ambient sleep sound of comet 67P: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HA_J_3xyt8g

    0 0 Reply
  12. Anonymous Coward
    Pint

    I, for one, welcome our new Space-Ducky overlord, as revealed to us by His Acolyte. Banish the heretics criticising the Holy Vestments of the Great Prophet Taylor!

    I am seriously envious of the team that worked on Philae, I would have loved a career in space science myself. Well done all involved with Rosette, and who with any brains gives a monkeys about what the scientists were wearing?!

    1 0 Reply

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

Forgotten password ?

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon

Other stories you might like