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Sure, they certainly have download-continuation deployed, but they also have a lot of data and a very narrow channel and time window - the lander had only batte
by Xylakant 12y ago
Sure, they certainly have download-continuation deployed, but they also have a lot of data and a very narrow channel and time window - the lander had only battery for 68 hours most of the time the lander is not visible to the orbiter. The problem is not imaging. The lens is certainly magnitudes better than you can see on the pictures, but transmitting all those pixels back to earth is the real problem. TCP kinda gets hard if RTT is approximately one hour.
- unclebucknasty 12y ago68 hours was the lander's initial battery life. The solar panels were to recharge the batteries, and the expected operation was up to 3 months. The expected hard stop is March 2015, when the comet's orbit will take it close enough to the sun that the tech is not expected to survive the heat. Rosetta is also equipped with solar arrays.