"Tomorrow, a Spacecraft Will Try to Land on a Comet ..." Topic

…for the First Time Ever.

"Tomorrow morning, a 10-year, 4-billion-mile journey will end when a spacecraft attempts to land on a comet for the first time.

The ESA's Rosetta spacecraft arrived at comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on August 6, settling in an orbit around the roughly 20-trillion-pound space rock, which, if you squint, kind of looks like a rubber duck. For the last couple months, Rosetta has been studying the comet, surveying its surface and measuring the dust particles and gases around it. Scientists are finding that 67P, which stretches for about 2.5 miles at its widest, is expelling methane, ethanol, and sulfur, which might give it a rotten-egg-like stench.

Tonight, at 11:35 p.m. PST, Rosetta will release its 220-pound lander craft, dubbed Philae, which will slowly descend from a height of about 13 miles onto the landing site named Agilkia, a relatively flat spot on the duck's head. You can follow along here (above) as the landing unfolds on live webcast from the ESA's mission control starting at 11:00 a.m. PST/2:00 p.m. EST today. NASA TV is also providing live coverage starting at 6:00 a.m. PST/9:00 a.m. EST tomorrow…"
Full article and video here.
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Amicalement
Armand

Worked out well in Lifeforce…

It will be an incredible achievement. Looking forward to the pics and the data.

Those comets have been trying to land on us for epochs. Serves them right.

Since they're auctioning off moonrocks, Cometary icetrays would be nice.

Don't knock Mathilda May…

Hmm, what if it's not a comet?

link

So, at what time, GMT, will Bruce Willis blow it up?

(just kidding)

Success!!!

It has landed.

Congratulations to the European Space Agency.

Congrats too!

Amicalement
Armand

Pictures indicate it is possibly lying on its side & in a cave!.

All that distance & hits a pothole.

They say it bounced 3 times before it finally made it.
The pictures alone are astonishing!

That was CBS, NPR said 2 bounces. Sorry…..

2 bounces, three landings, and here comes the pitch….

So, a space probe lands on a comet and mysteriously bounces into a dark cave…
I've seen enough movies to know where this is headed.
(Actually, )

(Seriously, way to go, ESA!)

The West is doing fantastic and amazing things like this … and yet … Elsewhere on the planet, beheadings, crucifixions, genocide, stonings, etc., etc. are occuring almost daily en mass. Mostly in the name of a corrupted religion … Sounds like a bad Star Trek episode. Land in some places on the planet, you are in the 21st Century. Elsewhere … you're back in the 15th Century …

Incredible New Photos Taken From the Surface of a Comet

"For millennia, people have seen comets come and go from afar, watching the mysterious, bright objects suddenly appear in the sky with long, spectacular tails. Now the Rosetta mission has provided an unprecedented close-up perspective. The spacecraft's images of comet 67P/Guryumov-Gerasimenko's surface reveal a rugged environment, covered with jagged rock and sharp cliffs. Now its lander, Philae, has snapped the first-ever photos from the surface of a comet.

The photos in this gallery include those first shots, as well as photos taken of the lander's descent by both Philae and Rosetta. Also included are some gorgeous images of the comet taken during Rosetta's reconnaissance flyby at 10 kilometers above the surface.

It's dark out in space, especially at the comet's current location about 278 million miles from the sun. The comet itself is blacker than coal. To highlight the features on the surface, the contrast in some of these black-and-white images has been enhanced…"
From here
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Amicalement
Armand