Philae's landing on 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

General
21

After transmitting the results of all its instruments, the lander finally went asleep.
-salute- Good night, Philae

http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/15/our-landers-asleep/

5 Likes
22

Apparently Chury isnā€™t gray :slight_smile: Rosetta Beams Down the First True Color Image of Comet 67P, and No It's Not Gray | PetaPixel

2 Likes
23

Majestic Brown Space Mountain.

2 Likes
24

Presumably there may be a point at which the cometā€™s orbit brings the probe back into sunlight? Then more Scienceā„¢ could happen :smiley:

25

The cometā€™s orbit will bring the probe closer to the sun. Itā€™s rotation and shape (and outgassing events) is what determines how much of the time Philae will have any use of the increased brightness.

I wonder how much time/fuel it would take to alter the cometā€™s rotation by using Rosettaā€™s gravityā€¦

1 Like
26

Not a chance. Basic newtonian gravity says Gmm/r^2 which most people know. Lets look at the mass of rosetta. At launch it was 2900 kg. Dry is 1230kg. Iā€™m going to assume it has spent at least half of its fuel and say its current mass 1700kg. Iā€™ll be generous and round to 2x10^3

67P has a mass of 1x10^13.

Thatā€™s a difference of 10 orders of magnitude. There is a reason rosetta has to orbit at a few m/s. Escape velocity from 67P is tiny, however the mass of rosetta compared to 67P is even smaller. There is no way it can perturb the comet in any meaningful way.

27

More candy.

1 Like