Rise and Shine, Philae

Summary: Remember when there was a huge celebration because as a human race, we landed a rover on a comet? It was thrilling at the time, but we lost contact with the rover after it bounced into the shade of a cliff. Now the comet has tilted to allow sunlight to reach Philae and the rover has reached out to Earth.

A few very short message was received but it gives scientists hope and affirms that the rover may be able to still carry out its mission. There is not much else known at this point but the comet will be shifting into a position with more sunlight so more can be understood about the condition of the rover.


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Rosetta's Comet is Slowing Down

Summary: Despite the rover not being turned on again, astronomers are still learning new things about the chosen comet. For instance, it's changing rotation speed. The comet takes approximately 12.4 hours to complete one rotation, only that rate seems to be slowing down by one second per day. It seems like a small change but that is big in astronomical terms. It is actually a faster rate of change than in September. Back then it was slowing down by 33 milliseconds per day. (And right there is a differential equation for those who are so inclined.)

Scientists know the reason for this. The comet 67P is becoming more active which means there are gas jets shooting out of the rock and serving as propulsion, much like a rocket, only in the opposite direction of rotation, thus slowing it down. The jets actually shoot out of the comet at 800 meters per second and extend a few kilometers off the surface.

Astronomers found this out thanks to Rosetta still being in orbit around the rock. In order to keep the satellite in the correct trajectory, the navigators were using a system of landmarks on the surface to keep track of position. Only the landmarks were coming into view at a different time than expected.

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Where no Rover has gone Before

Summary: The landing was a success. Philae has landed on the comet 67P and is now confirmed to be stable. Scientists had been waiting overnight for this confirmation since it was known that the rover had some issues in landing. It actually landed three times due to one of the harpoons failing to attach to the surface. But all is now well and the mission can proceed. One of the main goals is to determine the composition of the comet and use this to learn more about the origins of our Solar System. Especially the question of whether it was from comets that we got our water and the beginnings of life. For a journey that took 10 years, an idea that was born 25 years ago, I hope everyone involved is proud of their success.


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To Boldly Go

Summary: The European Space Agency gave its final 'go' for the Rosetta satellite to release its robot to land on the surface of the comet. This is the first landing attempt on a comet so keep your fingers crossed. Already the mission has has some complications. This final 'go' was delayed because FIND REASON but the mission is going ahead. The team is putting its hopes in the screws, harpoons, and the potentially soft surface of the comet to keep PHILEA stable where it lands. Because of the signal delay, it's too late to do much else but hope.

Update: The rover has successfully landed!

Read more:
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You can also follow the mission on twitter @Philae2014

Scifi Short for a Comet

Summary: To promote the Rosetta mission, ESA has released a short scifi movie. It's about seven minutes; go and check it out.


Video
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All Eyes to the Skies

Summary: One really fascinating advantage of modern technology is that in a natural disaster, everyone takes out their cameras to document the event. Turns out scientists are not immune to this way of thinking. The Siding Spring Comet will be making a dramatic flyby of Mars and all cameras available will be watching.

This Oort Cloud object will be passing incredibly close to the planet; it will be just 139,000km above the surface. Okay, close in astronomer's terms. Because it will be so close, the rovers on the surface will be instructed to train their instruments upwards to study this comet. More importantly, the orbiters will also be watching. Only they must be extra careful. While not in danger of being smashed by the comet, the dust being shot off still poses a threat so they are going to be directed to the other side of the planet in order to avoid the tail.

I can't wait to see what new breakthroughs in comet research comes from this.



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esa live Google hangout
NASA JPL

Rosetta updates

Summary: Rosetta is a esa spacecraft that is currently trailing behind a 10-ton comet. The spacecraft with later touchdown and begin studying the object in detail, but important parameters still need to be found out about the comet first. In order to determine a perfect landing spot, there are currently five remaining candidates, the exact center of mass needs to be determined. This means finding out information about the size and material makeup of the celestial body. So far most of the data has confirmed what the scientists already knew and hopefully should not delay the initial touchdown in November of this year.


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