Emily Lakdawalla tweets from the control center: Ulamec: signal kept coming and going "but we always got it back." Possibly indicates unstable, or tilted. Ula

Emily Lakdawalla tweets from the control center: Ulamec: signal kept coming and going "but we always got it back." Possibly indicates unstable, or tilted. Ulamec confirms the harpoons did NOT fire. There is much they currently do not know. Ulamec: a central rod was pushed into lander 4 cm by landing. Indicates soft rather than hard surface (rod would've pushed more into lander) Just had a chat with Mark McCaughrean and I feel a bit calmer.... McCaughrean: @Philae2014 is down on the surface of the comet and it is transmitting signals. Science instruments are getting data. Yes, McCaughrean confirmed this. RT @JPMajor: @elakdawalla So the ice screws on the lander's feet have at least dug in I assume? https://twitter.com/elakdawalla/status/532578862086250497 https://twitter.com/elakdawalla/status/532578862086250497 ------------------------------------------ And overview of the German DLR stream's briefing (via reddit live stream): Good news: --- Touchdown, all the signals that trigger on touchdown worked. --- Still communication, which means the lander did not tilt or topple. Bad news: --- ADS thruster did not fire, that is the issue was already known beforehand. --- The anchors did not fire, this confusion was due to the rewind motors for the anchors going into action, but the harpoon wasn't actually fired. --- Team doesn't know if it rebounded or not / if it's on the surface. Thus they don't dare issuing a re-firing signal for the harpoons, because they don't know in what position the lander is. Current Situation: --- The arm that damped the landing force only moved very little, which indicates a very soft surface. Which might mean if it rebound the rebound was very soft as well and in this case might settle down again. --- On board computer is waiting for new commands. --- There will be more telemetry in 30 minutes, but contact lost in 120 minutes, so the final verdict could be known only tomorrow. http://www.reddit.com/live/tw0cnch7nxjx/ http://www.reddit.com/live/tw0cnch7nxjx/