5 ms·
Philae’s first touchdown seen by Rosetta
- mckoss 12y agoIt looks like you can see the lander, up in the air and casting a shadow on the surface in the 2nd image. If it is, you can get a good estimate of its horizontal velocity from the image timestamp. https://plus.google.com/app/basic/stream/z13gzxiwdkq2clyew22ddx3p4neqihzjx04 https://plus.google.com/app/basic/stream/z13gzxiwdkq2clyew22...
- pcrh 12y agoThat speck appears to be there in the first image as well, though not as bright...? I wonder if Philae actually landed exactly where computed (the green square), and if so why the dark dust does not radiate from that spot, but "down-wards". Perhaps Philae hit the surface at an angle?
- valevk 12y agoDid the lander somehow adjust itself while hovering away from the original landing site? I can't imagine Philae bouncing away, then flying for roughly one hour (?) and then landing on its feet.
- lmm 12y agoIt would land heavy side down both initially and after a bounce, no?
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- throwaway_yy2Di 12y agoGravity exerts almost no torque here. Philae has 100 kg of inertia, but it weighs less than a feather. Even if were in a strong gravity field, that still wouldn't orient it, if there's no force like air resistance to attenuate its tumbling. It can rotate indefinitely in the vertical plane: there's no loss of energy. (In an atmosphere, this rotation is damped by air drag, so gravity can orient things).
- fit2rule 12y agoIt had a flywheel in use at the time, which was used to stabilize its flight relative to the surface, but it induced a spin ..