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Rosetta Comet Orbiter -** 120 Icy Patches ** Philae Phones Home ** Ceres Fly Over Video ** New Coma Discovery ** Picture MOTHER LODE !
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In accordance with industry accepted best practices we ask that users limit their copy / paste of copyrighted material to the relevant portions of the article you wish to discuss and no more than 50% of the source material, provide a link back to the original article and provide your original comments / criticism in your post with the article.
[quote:Anonymous Coward 62170789:MV8yNTk4OTk2XzQ2MDI5NzczXzIyODUwOUQ4] [quote:TheWatcher-Anonymous Hero:MV8yNTk4OTk2XzQ2MDI5MDE2XzFGQTRDNTQ=] Thanks for the updates. Going to be a long wait until November. Are they landing on a solid surface? [/quote] That's the billion euro question. The images from the OSIRIS NAC show that large areas of the comet seem to be blanketed in dust ( regolith ). I guess that shouldn't have been a surprise because that was what Whipple was predicting in his 1950 paper on Enke. You can see what appear to be boulders at the candidate landing site, that would suggest that maybe the dust layer is not too thick at these points. Philae was designed to land on an icy surface so it has a number of features to help anchor it on such a surface. Firstly it has a cold gas system. This is a brief jet of gas which is fired out from the top of Philea when it lands, its purpose is to stop Philae rebounding off the surface. It has two mini harpoons that fire into the surface to help anchor it and each of its three small pairs of footpads is equipped with an icescrew that tries to screw itself into the surface. Clearly none of these features or the small footpads are going to work very well on a dusty surface. My last calculation for 67P's bulk density puts it in the same region as snow, although that does not say anything about the mechanical strength or cohesiveness of the surface. Here is what ESA was hoping would happen. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBXvUK8EsUM[/youtube] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBXvUK8EsUM K [/quote]
Original Message
I want to use this thread to highlight news from the Rosetta comet mission.
Ten years ago the European Space Agency ( ESA ) launched the Rosetta comet chaser to rendezvous with comet 67P, go into orbit around it and land a probe on its surface.
120 Icy Patches - by last September
Thread: Rosetta Comet Orbiter -** 120 Icy Patches ** Philae Phones Home ** Ceres Fly Over Video ** New Coma Discovery ** Picture MOTHER LODE ! (Page 69)
thanks FBVA
Philae Phones Home
Great news, thanks F-BVFA
Thread: Rosetta Comet Orbiter -** 120 Icy Patches ** Philae Phones Home ** Ceres Fly Over Video ** New Coma Discovery ** Picture MOTHER LODE ! (Page 68)
Ceres fly over video
Thread: Rosetta Comet Orbiter -** 120 Icy Patches ** Philae Phones Home ** Ceres Fly Over Video ** New Coma Discovery ** Picture MOTHER LODE ! (Page 67)
New Coma Discovery
Thread: Rosetta Comet Orbiter -** 120 Icy Patches ** Philae Phones Home ** Ceres Fly Over Video ** New Coma Discovery ** Picture MOTHER LODE ! (Page 67)
Pictures MOTHER LODE !
- There are
hundreds
thousands of images from Rosetta, this post will always point to the most recent NAVCAM or OSIRIS picture. Updated several times per week. ( Thanks F-BVFA )
Thread: Rosetta Comet Orbiter -** 120 Icy Patches ** Philae Phones Home ** Ceres Fly Over Video ** New Coma Discovery ** Picture MOTHER LODE ! (Page 67)
Ceres Spot Shot
Thread: Rosetta Comet Orbiter -** 120 Icy Patches ** Philae Phones Home ** Ceres Fly Over Video ** New Coma Discovery ** Picture MOTHER LODE ! (Page 66)
Potato
Thread: Rosetta Comet Orbiter -** 120 Icy Patches ** Philae Phones Home ** Ceres Fly Over Video ** New Coma Discovery ** Picture MOTHER LODE ! (Page 66)
When the Rosetta mission is complete we will know so much more about comets, their composition and formation. Comets have been a cause of fear and fascination throughout human history, within the next few months many long standing mysteries will be solved.
K
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