5 ms·
Updates: (Animation of where Rosetta is : http://sci.esa.int/where_is_rosetta/ http://sci.esa.int/where_is_rosetta/) 1. Comet is warmer than expected, estimati
by sidcool 12y ago
Updates: (Animation of where Rosetta is : http://sci.esa.int/where_is_rosetta/ http://sci.esa.int/where_is_rosetta/)
1. Comet is warmer than expected, estimating presence of dust.
2. Comet has Ammonia based gases in atmosphere and Magnesium in the soil. There is water in small amounts.
3. The gravity is one ten thousandth of that of earth.
4. NASA has a few instrument mounted on Rosetta. The microwave instruments, plasma instruments and Electron analyzer.
5. The landing site has clearly been identified. Rosetta will send 5 high-res images every hour. There were some minor hiccups last night.
6. Many high profile science experiments will be conducted during the first 48 hours after landing. This will be followed by the long term experiments whose results will take time.
7. Rosetta has executed a successful separation phase. The team is ecstatic :)
8. Team has lost contact with the lander, but the spokesman said this was expected and the contact will soon be reestablished.
9. It will be few hours before some new updates.
- fla 12y agoThey received the confirmation that the lander separation was successful. EDIT: First lander data expected in about 2 hours from now.
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- aruggirello 12y ago> NASA has a few instrument mounted on Rosetta. The microwave instruments, plasma instruments and Electron analyzer. Which instruments are mounted on Philae?
- huhtenberg 12y ago> 4. NASA ... You misspelled ESA ;)
- Solarsail 12y agoESA has a few instruments mounted on Rosetta too. NASA's: http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/microwave-instrument-for-the-rosetta-orbiter-miro/ http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/microwave-instrument-for-th... (Unless this was sarcasm)
- louhike 12y agoDid you misspelled ESA (really this time)? As it is an ESA mission with ESA spacecrafts but there are some NASA instruments.
- danbruc 12y agoDoes it really matter which letters we paint on our spacecrafts?
- alimoeeny 12y agoI think so, it shows which nations spent their tax money on it. Instead of spending it on other things.
- sspiff 12y agoI love paying taxes if the money is used to sent science labs into space.
- DonHopkins 12y agoLike invading Iraq. http://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2014/06/27/iraq-opportunity-costs-what-america-could-have-had-if-it-never-invaded/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/lorenthompson/2014/06/27/iraq-op... 4. A sizable colony on Mars . I got the idea for this commentary from the space section of the wildly popular Reddit web-site. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson posed the question of what could be achieved if all the money spent on wars was instead given to NASA. The resulting exchange was pretty fanciful, but one of the options mentioned might make sense — building a colony on Mars. Mars is the only other truly Earth-like planet in the known universe, it has water and it is reachable. SpaceX founder Elon Musk has claimed that a colony of 80,000 could be established for $36 billion. He tends to hyperbole, so let’s say he is off by an order of magnitude (1000%). We could still create a sizable colony for a fraction of what was spent in Iraq, providing a sanctuary from Earth’s next asteroid hit.
- fmax30 12y agoTeam has regained contact with the lander. Signal received from both the lander and rosetta.
- ctdonath 12y agoAnimation looks good, but the sound seems unnecessary and likely conflicting with other tabs I want/need to listen to.
- ciucanu 12y agoThere is a mute button in the lower right corner.
- robertfw 12y agoHarpoons did not actually fire - team is looking at options for refiring