Comet Landing!

[Canadian]

This is so cool.

 

Wonder what a Comet has to offer.

 

Anyone else interested?

[allardyces tash]

Reduced Dvd players? Redunant workers? I suppose Comet does not offer a lot to us.

Sorry!

[Fan of Big Tone]

This is so cool.

 

Wonder what a Comet has to offer.

 

Anyone else interested?

 

 

Sorry you've lost me.

[Chris]

It's been mentioned a few times today, I don't really see the point.

It was mentioned that people plan to land on it? It was supposed to reach us in 8 years time but Absolute Radio suggested it could hit us?.... I really don't know, though I'm not really bothered. I do think space pictures are cool though, perhaps they could send @Dan with his camera? hehe

[Fan of Big Tone]

Right I've googled it and for those thickies like me (or perhaps it's just me) here is a link.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30026398

[Cobby]

It really is truly amazing.

 

Humans have managed to launch a robot that has been flying for 10 years in space, to a comet that is currently 310 million miles from Earth that is the size of London! It took 28 minutes for the radio signals to arrive on earth from the robot, that's how far away it is.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30026398

[super_ram]

Sorry you've lost me.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30026398

You beat me to it.

[Cobby]

Oh, and the comet was travelling at around 34,000 mph!

[PTID1862]

34,000 mph?? definitely not built by DeHavilland then.

 

It is intriguing, I am still trying to get my head round the warehouse in Nevada conspiracy theory, seeing as how we don't go back to the moon every year.

[Fan of Big Tone]

Apparently it's not clear now whether the robot craft is still on the comet because it's grappling hooks didn't deploy.

[GrannyPie]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30034060

Latest.

[liampie]

how do they take pics of the things? they always look so clear and almost hollywood like. im not suggesting its fake, i just dont see how something can take pictures at distance without it being seen as to why.

it is pretty cool.

[Dripsey3]

It could hold clues about the origin of life on earth. Plus it's cool.....

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

That comet could give us answers to questions that are vital to our past and our future.

Incredible achievement, if it is standing, or on it's side as it could possibly be. Congrats to all at ESA. What we have to remember is that these things take a long time to manufacture, test, then launch, maybe even 10 years, and then it spent 10 years tracking this comet, so we are actually talking about spacecraft technology from 20 years ago, give or take.

It's like running Windows 95.

Another problem is when something goes wrong, or equipment malfunctions on the spacecraft, there is very little we can do to fix it. 

Amazing achievement though!

[Super_Danny_Allsopp]

It seems the probe has landed (again) quite a distance from the intended land site. Also, it seems to be in a hole, which can be seen via the shadows. One of the legs is also up in the air, so the probe isn't sitting correctly.

The sunlight is the main issue. That is where the probe will get its power from, and without enough sunlight reaching the solar panels, the battery will eventually be completely discharged.

They are waiting for an optimal time where enough sunlight will be on the solar panels to try and attempt some kind of manoeuvre , I would guess.