Bear Down Wildcats

Philae is currently landing on the comet right now. http://xkcd1446.org/

This is pretty god damn cool. They need Bruce Willis to do it right though.

azgreg wrote:This is pretty god damn cool. They need Bruce Willis to do it right though.

Only if blowing it up is needed.

ghostwhitehorse wrote:

azgreg wrote:This is pretty god damn cool. They need Bruce Willis to do it right though.

Only if blowing it up is needed.

We're not going to blow it up?

Katzenfreund wrote:

azgreg wrote:We're not going to blow it up?

This is an ESA (European Space Agency) mission and the probe was developed and built by DLR (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt) in Köln. And since I haven't given my OK - no, Germany is not going to blow it up.

Oh well, we'll destroy the nest one then.

Picture from a little over an hour ago when it was 3 km from the surface

sweet

This is a really incredible mission. The craft had to be so light that they designed its path in such a way that it would be propelled by the gravity of various planets until finally catching up to the comet right as it makes its closest approach to the sun. This is the path it took:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ktrtvCvZb28

The lander itself carries no fuel, so once it was released from Rosetta, there were no course corrections possible, and it had to slowly spiral into the comet with only the comet's extremely weak gravity acting on it.

The lander has no battery and has to operate within a power budget of eight watts when the sun is shining on it. I'm pretty sure that's less than a cheap electric razor.

(How the hell do you embed youtube videos again?)

Bruins01 wrote:(How the hell do you embed youtube videos again?)

Use the full embed code.

Huh, I tried that too and it didn't work either. Must have pasted incorrectly. Thanks.

Bruins01 wrote:Huh, I tried that too and it didn't work either. Must have pasted incorrectly. Thanks.

This code?

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/ktrtvCvZb28" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

You still need to wrap it with the youtube tags.

[youtube]code[/youtube]

That's gotta hurt.

You'd think it would sink in a little more than that.

trying to imagine the hardcore mathz that it took to calculate the path of the mission to maximize the gravity of other planets to move it through the solar system at the exact right time 12 years in the future.

i know I'll never be that smart.

scumdevils86 wrote:trying to imagine the hardcore mathz that it took to calculate the path of the mission to maximize the gravity of other planets to move it through the solar system at the exact right time 12 years in the future.

i know I'll never be that smart.

Lol you know jack shit about calculating the path of a solar-powered spacecraft that maximizes the gravity of other planets to move it through the solar system at the exact right time 12 years in the future.

Longhorned wrote:

scumdevils86 wrote:trying to imagine the hardcore mathz that it took to calculate the path of the mission to maximize the gravity of other planets to move it through the solar system at the exact right time 12 years in the future.

i know I'll never be that smart.

Lol you know jack shit about calculating the path of a solar-powered spacecraft that maximizes the gravity of other planets to move it through the solar system at the exact right time 12 years in the future.

My god do I miss rep...

heeyoooo

Awesome mission.

I'm hearing something about the anchors not working? roh-row...

It doesn't actually have thrusters or anything so it was relying on spikes and a harpoon it would launch right before it landed it to anchor it to the comet, which has virtually no gravity. The harpoon failed and they think the probe bounced as it landed. It landed but it's currently out of radio contact since the probe and the Rosetta satellite are on opposite sides of the comet. They are figuring out if they should try firing the harpoon again. Otherwise they don't know if the thing will stay on the comet.

So there are Stuart Freeborn-operated hand puppets on comets? Cool.

Longhorned wrote:

That's gotta hurt.

Over/under on weeks until we see this on a made-for-Syfy direct-to-DVD 'nado?

This thread title makes me think that there is some kind of new invention that will teach you a 2nd language when inserted into your ass.

Chicat wrote:This thread title makes me think that there is some kind of new invention that will teach you a 2nd language when inserted into your ass.

rep!

This is what the comet sounds like (sort of): http://deadstate.org/this-creepy-sound- ... errifying/

Also, it apparently smells like Longhorned's egg farts.

Philae woke up!

Chicat wrote:Philae woke up!

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33126885

Philae, the first spacecraft to land on a comet, was dropped on to the surface of Comet 67P by its mothership, Rosetta, last November.
It worked for 60 hours before its solar-powered battery ran flat.
The comet has since moved nearer to the Sun and Philae has enough power to work again, says the BBC's science correspondent Jonathan Amos.

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Chicat wrote:This is what the comet sounds like (sort of): http://deadstate.org/this-creepy-sound- ... errifying/

Also, it apparently smells like Longhorned's egg farts.

Longhoned once evaded a mugging in the streets of South Philadelphia by "Butter-cupping" a dude with one of his egg farts.

Mind you it was not the ACTUAL mugger, just a passer by, but the assailant got the point REALLY quick.

...actually we're not quite sure it was a mugger, as much as a guy that goes to park in the afternoon to practice Tai Chi. Better safe than sorry is the prevailing wisdom though.