Humanity just landed a spacecraft on a comet

[xxMATTGxx]

Surprised there isn't a thread about this already...



http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/live-experience/cps/512/mcs/media/images/78948000/png/_78948094_b2qgrveiaaajcjm.png

After 10 long years on Rosetta's back and a 7-hour fall toward its target, the Philae lander anchored itself to the surface of a comet. Just after 11AM ET, the European Space Agency's Philae lander made contact with the surface of a comet. The 250-pound probe settled on a patch of the 2.5-mile-long comet and sent a signal home, ESA said.

Philae left Earth a decade ago, hitching a ride on ESA's Rosetta orbiter. About seven hours ago, Rosetta released the washing-machine-sized probe, and it began to fall toward its target, a comet called 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Though the landing site was selected to ensure minimal debris, it was possible that Philae wouldn't stick the landing — especially after the head Rosetta lander, Stephan Ulamac, said yesterday that Philae's thrusters, meant to stabilize the craft as it landed, might not work.

Sources:
http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/12/7204373/humanity-just-landed-a-spacecraft-on-a-comet
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science-environment-29985988

[MKR&*42]

Yeah saw it on TV a few hours ago and just watched the report on bbc again. God bless that woman who'd been working on it for 25 years and started crying with joy, truly astonishing moment.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Very good but i'm glad nothing from it is being brought back from space to Earth.

Dangerous if you ask me (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thing_%281982_film%29), best to analyse it there and then.

[The Don]

http://i.guim.co.uk/static/w-620/h--/q-95/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2014/11/11/1415720650017/9de1f048-08c4-4463-a8ea-a435edc7e7be-620x372.jpeg



The signal broke a seven-hour wait of agonising intensity and sparked scenes of jubilation at the European Space Agency’s mission control in Darmstadt. The team in charge of the Rosetta mission achieved what at times seemed an impossible task by landing a robotic spacecraft on a comet for the first time in history.

The moment the tension broke came shortly after 1600 GMT when the Philae called home. “We are there. We are sitting on the surface. Philae is talking to us,” said a jubilant Stephan Ulamec, Philae lander manager at the DLR German space centre. “We are on the comet.”

Andrea Accomazzo, the Rosetta flight operations director, added: “We cannot be happier than we are now.”

But celebrations were tempered by the later discovery that the probe’s two harpoons had not fired to fasten the craft down in the ultra-low gravity. Scientists now think the probe may have bounced after first coming into contact with the surface. Ulamec said: “Maybe today we didn’t just land once, we landed twice.”

The safe, if precarious, touchdown of the lander gives scientists a unique chance to ride onboard a comet and study from the surface what happens as its activity ramps up as it gets closer to the sun. The first images beamed back from the lander’s descent revealed a dramatic landscape of pits and precipices, craters and boulders. However, there have been gaps in its radio link with the orbiting Rosetta mothership.

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/nov/12/rosetta-mission-philae-historic-landing-comet


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gou-JxryOHQ


Surprised nobody else posted this yet. Absolutely amazing. Fantastic to see this come out of Europe as well rather than NASA. Just goes to show what we can achieve through cooperation.

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xxMATTGxx; merge my post into your thread please :P

[The Don]

Surprised there isn't a thread about this already...


Sources:
http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/12/7204373/humanity-just-landed-a-spacecraft-on-a-comet
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/science-environment-29985988

Damnit matt, happened hours ago and you beat me to posting it by a few minutes!!!

Absolutely amazing news anyway.

[xxMATTGxx]

Damnit matt, happened hours ago and you beat me to posting it by a few minutes!!!

Absolutely amazing news anyway.

Haha, merged them for you ;)

[The Don]

Haha, merged them for you ;)

Thanks!

I'm surprised Chippiewill; didn't make a thread on this :P

[Lewis]

This is absolutely fantastic news and a great step for humanity. It can only lead to new discoveries, possibilities and hopes!

I'll be keeping up to date with this :).

[peteyt]

Its weird to think I'd just probably been born when they started the planning stages of this. Glad it's stable now

[RyRy]

Apparently it bounced, landed, bounced, landed, and then fell on its side so... yup. Bit of a problem that.

[-:Undertaker:-]

Isn't it due to go off fairly soon as the battery is going to falter? Hope it takes samples before.

A funny political spin on this news I came across...


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B2T6HJeIYAAnz1O.jpg:large

[Kimmy]

Space messes me up, man. I think it's great that we're taking a step towards discovering more stuff but it's just.... Argh. It has so many unanswered questions and potential answers to questions that just...

I found this too.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/daves4/the-universe-is-scary

It also forked me up. This stuff's so cool.

[Danny]

I am aware this thread is old, but Philae has woken up!

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-33126885

[FlyingJesus]

Bruce Willis did it ages ago

[Danny]

Bruce Willis did it ages ago

I blocked that emotional episode out, thanks for reminding me!

[Joe]

this is cool, but i disagree i want the life forms that sit on the comet coming back to earth ;)