News from SPAAAAACE!

lithy

Most Prominent Member of Chat
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2002
Posts
22,031
Pretty neat project, they seem to have had some issues though and aren't quite sure that the Probe is totally secured to the surface. With little gravitational pull, it is possible it could just tumble off.

http://www.nbcnews.com/science/spac...be-lands-comet-317-million-miles-away-n246671

You can follow mission progress on Twitter if that's your thing.

Godspeed Philae :p

spirit.png
 
Last edited:

munchiaz

Robert Garcia's Butler
Joined
Nov 13, 2011
Posts
1,299
pretty awesome stuff. looking forward to seeing what the discover on that comet
 

GutsDozer

Robot Master., Master Tasuke, Eat Your, Heart Out
10 Year Member
Secret Santa Veteran
Joined
Mar 5, 2013
Posts
5,391
So far so good. A pretty amazing triumph.
 

Jeneki

Enemy Chaser
Joined
Jan 22, 2013
Posts
1,164
This mission gives me nerdgasms. It's right up there with the Huygens probe for sheer awesomeness.

With little gravitational pull, it is possible it could just tumble off.
Supposedly the lander bounced a few times upon impact. The escape velocity is around a meter per second. If that wasn't enough to send it away, I can't imagine it'll randomly float off.
 

lithy

Most Prominent Member of Chat
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2002
Posts
22,031
This mission gives me nerdgasms. It's right up there with the Huygens probe for sheer awesomeness.


Supposedly the lander bounced a few times upon impact. The escape velocity is around a meter per second. If that wasn't enough to send it away, I can't imagine it'll randomly float off.

Yeah I did see that, I guess I misheard some of the initial reports. Maybe what they were talking about was the potential for it to tumble around on the surface, which I guess it did and is now in a shadow which spells a bit of trouble for the mission length.
 

StevenK

ng.com SFII tournament winner 2002-2023
10 Year Member
Joined
Jul 25, 2012
Posts
10,084
Quite a lot of trouble for the mission length in fact - it could all be over this time tomorrow when the batteries die. I hope they find a fix in the meantime but if not it's still been a massive success.

Ditto on the nerdgasm too, I fucking love all this stuff.
 

cdamm

Trust the French?
10 Year Member
Joined
Apr 1, 2011
Posts
10,587
xkcd did a tremendous live blog (with comic strips) of the landing. there is a bunch in that gallery so flip on through.

http://xkcd1446.org/#0
 

Jeneki

Enemy Chaser
Joined
Jan 22, 2013
Posts
1,164
If the Philae lander does run out of juice or stops working, remember that's only part of the mission. The Rosetta probe that launched the lander is still in orbit around the comet, so there will still be plenty of information to obtain. And since the Philae lander only talks to the Rosetta, which the Rosetta then sends to earth, arguably the most important part is still fully functional.

I'm sure the Rosetta will get some amazing pictures when the comet gets a bit closer to the sun, starts heating up, and venting little comet droppings.
 

SNKorSWM

So Many Posts
No Time
For Games.
10 Year Member
Joined
Feb 5, 2010
Posts
15,152
Hopefully they installed solar panels to avoid the problem of running out of power.
 

NeoGeoNinja

Athena's Wardrobe Manager
Joined
Dec 4, 2011
Posts
2,287
Space exploration is, tbh, one of the very few things that still blows my mind.

Those photo's were awesome btw. It's difficult to gauge the scale though, even though the 67P is supposed to be the approximate size of Manhattan!

This is all clearly marketing for the prequel to Michael Bay's Armageddon...
 

hyper

fresh out of fucks
10 Year Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2010
Posts
5,616
this mission is incredible. the landers anchor harpoons failed, apparently, & it ended up in the shadow of a cliff.. no solar power. the photos are awesome. of course NASA wasn't involved due to the democratic tracfonez budget
 

evil wasabi

The Jongmaster
20 Year Member
Joined
Aug 20, 2000
Posts
60,434
So you guys are 100% that it's not faked?

Considering that the escape velocity is so easy to meet? Considering that the gravitational pull, when mixed with the law of every action is met with an equal and opposite reaction? And not even considering that this object, traveling extremely fast, was landed upon by a mini-fridge, shot from space which is almost a vacuum, reapplying newton's third law?
 

LoneSage

A Broken Man
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 20, 2004
Posts
44,746
So you guys are 100% that it's not faked?

Considering that the escape velocity is so easy to meet? Considering that the gravitational pull, when mixed with the law of every action is met with an equal and opposite reaction? And not even considering that this object, traveling extremely fast, was landed upon by a mini-fridge, shot from space which is almost a vacuum, reapplying newton's third law?

still crazy to think astronauts don't freeze to death in space
 

hyper

fresh out of fucks
10 Year Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2010
Posts
5,616
So you guys are 100% that it's not faked?

Considering that the escape velocity is so easy to meet? Considering that the gravitational pull, when mixed with the law of every action is met with an equal and opposite reaction? And not even considering that this object, traveling extremely fast, was landed upon by a mini-fridge, shot from space which is almost a vacuum, reapplying newton's third law?
I WANT TO BELIEVE
 

2D_mastur

Is he greater than XD Master?
10 Year Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2009
Posts
4,963
I hope they find The Blob on this comet and comes to earth and devours us all.

theblob1.jpg
 

lithy

Most Prominent Member of Chat
20 Year Member
Joined
Dec 1, 2002
Posts
22,031
Updated the thread title to reflect any goings on from or relating to space for this thread.

After successfully sending a supplies capsule to the ISS. Here is SpaceX's attempt at landing their first stage rocket booster on an unmanned ship so that it can be recycled instead of just fall into the ocean.

It didn't go perfectly.

https://vine.co/v/OjqeYWWpVWK

Musk had a pretty great tweet noting that their next attempt will be in 2 to 3 weeks and they'll have way more hydraulic fluid to avoid the failure they had on this attempt and "At least it [should] explode for a diff[erent] reason."

Also in the news is the UK's Mars lander Beagle 2 was rediscovered supposedly it landed successfully on the surface but didn't deploy its solar panels and thus never communicated back. So close. No pics that I can find yet.
 

SPINMASTER X

I AM NOT FRENCHMAN,, I AM A HUMAN BEING!,
20 Year Member
Joined
Nov 2, 2001
Posts
16,953
Yay a thread I can participate in. Ever since I started working for the Space Systems Company sector of Lockheed Martin 2 years ago I became obsessed with Space. I honestly didn't care before at all. I think I jumped in the game at the right time because things have started to become very interesting in the Space world.
 

Rot

Calvin & Hobbes, ,
Joined
Jul 8, 2003
Posts
11,441
Yay a thread I can participate in. Ever since I started working for the Space Systems Company sector of Lockheed Martin 2 years ago I became obsessed with Space. I honestly didn't care before at all. I think I jumped in the game at the right time because things have started to become very interesting in the Space world.

SPIN... you should invest in... THIS Space project...

... it's the only way to save the human race...

xROTx
 

Bill Kilgore

Sent Rot A Secret Santa.Didn't Get Banned.FOOKIN A
Joined
Jul 14, 2014
Posts
1,101
I thought this was going to be about the Pornhub reaching for space...
 
Top