Rosetta space probe, Philae lander, comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko

[Glaurung]

As you might have heard, the Rosetta space probe arrived at its target (comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko) today, after a ten-year journey to get it into the right orbit - see this BBC news article. I'm looking forward to the science reports, and also to finding out what the surface of a comet actually looks like.

[TTG4]

I naively expected it to be a round blob, but it's far more fun that it's the shape it is, if only to hear reporters describe it as the 'space duck'!

Also, harpoons. Gotta love harpoons.

[comrade_general]

Space! Yay!

[Glaurung]

 Another BBC article, with a selection of pictures, some very detailed.

[Gen_Glory]

quite a spectacular orbit

[Glaurung]

Indeed, and likewise what it's had to do to get out to the comet: five times round the sun, and several gravitational slingshots. All with a fixed amount of fuel and fairly limited margin for error. This is rocket science!

EDIT: This xkcd post seems relevant.

Edit 2: As does this one.

[TTG4]

Go home probe, you're drunk.

[Cuddly Khan]

Pfft, I can do that!

[Glaurung]

Some more BBC news about Rosetta: ESA are about to start shrinking its orbit around the comet, and are evaluating potential landing sites. They're having "some headaches" in finding the centre of mass! They're also still working on a naming system for surface features.

[TTG4]

Well the ESA have managed to land on a comet, with a harpoon. No idea if it'll end up being worthwhile, but hey, pretty cool.

Moderation note: I moved this post from "Space yays" to this more specific thread; apologies if this has confused anyone.

[Glaurung]

Alas, the harpoons didn't fire, and nor did the thruster rocket. Philae bounced several times, and is now thought to be well away from its intended location. Worse, it's in the dark much of the time, so its batteries won't recharge, and it's currently expected to run out of power on Saturday
Details are from a somewhat jumbled BBC news article; no doubt there's much more on the ESA website and elsewhere.

[Othko97]

This would be the most relevant xkcd http://www.xkcd.com/1446

[Jubal]

Back to 67P, we now have pictures of the landing bounce:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-30083969




Repost of my last science bit before the storm broke.

This area is now re-consecrated to only being about the comet & lander. Please take discussion of the shirt to discussion and debate where it will happily or unhappily rage on.

[Glaurung]

Some news on science results from Rosetta: the isotope distribution (specifically hydrogen vs. deuterium) in the comet's water is quite different from that on Earth. This suggests that comets were not the source of the Earth's water, or at least not the particular group of comets that 67P comes from. More in a BBC News article, including a link to the original paper in Science.

[Glaurung]

Some further news from Rosetta: the comet has been photographed in colour for the first time (strictly, a composite of monochrome pictures with colour filters). it turns out to look just like it did in the previous monochrome pictures - i.e. it's a very uniform grey. In fact it's more or less black, as the images have been brightened considerably to show detail. More information in a BBC News article.

One effect of this is that the comet will be a good absorber of solar energy. I assume Rosetta has some means of determining surface temperature, because it'll be very interesting to see how the comet warms up as it approaches the sun.