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Questions tagged [philae]

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7 votes
2 answers
2k views

How high did Philae bounce?

The Philae lander bounced off 67P/C-G due to low gravity, but how high did it actually bounce?
Mar's user avatar
  • 73
14 votes
1 answer
883 views

Where on Comet 67P is the Philae lander?

My institute has a 3D printed model of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko in its common room. Someone recently asked where the Philae lander is located. I know that it's been found but I can't point to ...
N. Virgo's user avatar
  • 328
4 votes
1 answer
136 views

How will Philae's power failure affect Rosetta's mission?

With Philae dead on the comet, how will Rosetta's mission change? Obviously there isn't anything more that the lander can do, so Rosetta doesn't have to use its time and resources trying to wake it up....
duzzy's user avatar
  • 7,184
8 votes
1 answer
326 views

If there was DNA in the "organics" of a comet could we tell?

A recent news article says that the lander Philae on comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko 67P, has discovered a rich array of organics and it quotes one leading scientist as saying it is a a frozen ...
James Jenkins's user avatar
6 votes
3 answers
260 views

Does Philae's waking enable scientists to determine its location?

Now that Philae has woken, is more known about its exact location? In other words: does Philae know where Philae is? Navigation on Churi sounds challenging.
gerrit's user avatar
  • 11.9k
7 votes
1 answer
570 views

Why did Philae the comet lander bounce?

After Rosetta released the lander, it bounced several times upon hitting the comet's surface and its two harpoons did not deploy. Why did the Philae's grabbing mechanism fail?
Brian Leeming's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
181 views

Philae - organic molecules?

Soon after the Philae landing on the comet Churyumov - Gerasimenko, there were news that it detected organic molecules on the surface. Does anybody know which ones? Were they the basic ones, like CO, ...
L.R.'s user avatar
  • 181
8 votes
2 answers
357 views

Why does it take so long to find Philae's exact location?

We all have seen the photos indicating the exact planned landing site, and the (much bigger) candidate area where Philae might have finally touched down, also the pictures that show Philae "in-jump" ...
TheBlastOne's user avatar
5 votes
1 answer
321 views

Since Philae lost power, what would be the approximate time to recharge it

Recently read that power was lost in the Philae probe. Did the team under estimate how the probe would recharge or is it in a spot where it doesn't get enough sun. And since this was supposed to ...
Vnge's user avatar
  • 297
8 votes
2 answers
1k views

Philae Lander - Were drilling samples collected and analysed?

Were drilling samples taken by SD2 and analysed by Ptolemy, COSAC, and ÇIVA?
G Walker's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
236 views

Would a POV camera on Philae lander be possible if the mission was launched today?

I saw the question "Why is there no POV video of the Philae lander landing?", which lead me to this question: The data transfer rate of Rosetta is only 28kb/s, which is not strange because it is very,...
joppiesaus's user avatar
4 votes
0 answers
149 views

Could underestimation of 67P's mass have helped Philae?

It appears that we underestimated comet 67P's mass significantly (see What was known about 67P/C-G's mass before the arrival of Rosetta?) during the initial planning. I wonder if this ...
pat_nafs's user avatar
  • 199
7 votes
3 answers
540 views

Could an upcoming comet lander be designed to cope with a greater variety of terrain types, compared to Philae?

All I could think about while looking at the designs for Philae (besides how courageous and ambitious the mission was) was that Philae itself looks like it was designed for landing on a known surface. ...
Mohammad's user avatar
  • 225
5 votes
2 answers
229 views

Is it feasible for a future Rosetta type mission to use wireless transfer of power to Philae?

While listening to the latest updates it seems like there is a limited 60 hour battery capacity left for Philae. There seems to be some information on the web on wireless power transfer using lasers. ...
Mohammad's user avatar
  • 225
2 votes
1 answer
843 views

Why did Rosetta travel 6.5 billion km to reach a comet that was only 510 million km from Earth?

I am reading this news article about the Rosetta mission. In one paragraph it says: Philae's data collection from a comet travelling at 18 kilometres (11 miles) per second, currently at a distance ...
SpringLearner's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
115 views

Can the Philae lander survive one orbit of 67P? [duplicate]

The Aphelion of Comet Churyumov–Gerasimenko is about 5.6829 AU. It has a orbital period of 6.44 years. If it stays on the comet for the entire period of its orbit, can it be usable when it is in the ...
tempusfugit's user avatar
8 votes
1 answer
321 views

Why is there no POV video of the Philae lander landing?

Why is there no POV video of the Philae lander landing? All I can find are animations made beforehand mixed with commentary and one or two stills.
Marco McClean's user avatar
10 votes
3 answers
819 views

How close was Philae to escape velocity during its first bounce?

ESA indicates that the first bounce lasted two hours and reached a height of 1 km. With the extremely weak surface gravity and low escape velocity of the body (< 1 m/s), and other publicly ...
pericynthion's user avatar
  • 10.1k
5 votes
1 answer
239 views

Was the gravitational pull at Philae's landing site known prior to landing?

How well was the gravitational field of Philae's landing spot known before the landing? I am referring to the absolute value of the pull, the direction of pull, and the tidal forces.
dotancohen's user avatar
  • 6,823
18 votes
4 answers
4k views

How long can Philae stay "alive"?

I noticed that 67P completes an orbit in 6.4 years. Assuming everything goes to plan, how long can Philae stay operational and keep sending data throughout the comet's orbit?
System Down's user avatar
  • 3,029
12 votes
1 answer
758 views

How important are Philae's harpoons?

There is currently a question as to if the harpoons fired, that is undergoing review. But I have to ask, how important are they? From what I've heard, a single leg touching the right spot could be a ...
PearsonArtPhoto's user avatar
  • 122k
10 votes
1 answer
148 views

Did we expect Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko to be dusty?

I just saw the pictures from Philae I was very surprised to see that the surface looks like it is covered in dust, not that much different than our moon. I personally was expecting it to be big ...
James Jenkins's user avatar
9 votes
2 answers
308 views

If Philae lander had bounced off the comet and become uncontrollable, could we still have seen some of the descent photos?

In other words, are the photos transferred "live" to Rosetta or did they plan to transfer them after landing? (and would they have been lost had the landing failed) (yes, I am aware that "nice photos"...
szulat's user avatar
  • 773
8 votes
1 answer
439 views

Rosetta's lander, Philae will "anchor" itself on Comet 67P. What level of control can we have over this?

Rosetta's lander, Philae is scheduled to land on Comet 67P in November 2014. This will involve use of "harpoon" to anchor itself to make sure Philae remains attached to the surface despite weak ...
pat_nafs's user avatar
  • 199
10 votes
1 answer
472 views

Are any precautions in place to prevent loss of the Rosetta Lander the way Hayabusa's MINERVA was?

Back in 2005, Hayabusa carried a mini-rover 'MINERVA'. MINERVA was a Solar Powered entity designed to hop around on Itokawa, and capture images. Unfortunately (perhaps due to the time-lag) MINERVA was ...
Everyone's user avatar
  • 13.7k
17 votes
4 answers
1k views

Why is Philae not provided with a propulsion system?

Rosetta is en route to rendezvous with Chury. Briefly, the mission comprises an orbiter, and a lander. The latter named Philae. Wikipedia writes to say ... The lander is designed to touch down ...
Everyone's user avatar
  • 13.7k