If there's one plus in all of this (notwithstanding the data already returned!) it's that if there wasn't a thick enough coating of dust to absorb the shock of

If there's one plus in all of this (notwithstanding the data already returned!) it's that if there wasn't a thick enough coating of dust to absorb the shock of a light impact in the absence of the harpoons or retro-thrusters, and the surface was hard enough to break the thermometer... there may also not be enough dust to cover the panels as 67P nears the sun, which means we may not have heard the last from Philae.