Just like Philae took a parting shot of the mothership shortly after separation, also Rosetta captured some amazing shots of the lander as it began its seven-hour descent to the surface of the comet.
These images were taken with Rosetta’s OSIRIS imaging system, both with the wide-angle camera and the narrow-angle camera.
Rosetta’s OSIRIS wide-angle camera captured this parting shot of the Philae lander after separation. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera captured this parting shot of the Philae lander after separation. Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
Rosetta’s OSIRIS narrow-angle camera captured this parting shot of the Philae lander after separation (cropped). Credit: ESA/Rosetta/MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/SSO/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA
The lander separated from the orbiter at 09:03 GMT/10:03 CET and is expected to touch down on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko seven hours later. Confirmation of a successful touchdown is expected in a one-hour window centred on 16:02 GMT / 17:02 CET.
Keep following the landing event live: esa.int/rosetta
Discussion: 57 comments
Go Philae, go !!!
Go Philae !! We are here in Brazil with you !!
GO PHILAE, GO!!!
Hope you make it Philae! Onnea Matkaan!
C’mon Philae!!!! Go Go Go
Godspeed philae and all the best for all the teams working on this mission
I am so excited and happy. Expecting nothing less than groundbreaking breakthroughs. An awesome time to be alive.
You sexy thing!! Congratulations 😉
Well done everyone!
You did a great Job. Congrats from Eppstein/Germany.
Congratulations on Touchdown.
One small step for a probe, a big step for mankind !!
Congratulations to ESA and to all scientists…!! Great Job !!
Congratulations ESA and partners on the successful milestone of placing a man-made object on a comet. This is a thrilling and historic moment in human history, rivaling the landings on Mars, the Voyager missions, the landings on the Moon, first flight of the Wright Brothers, and others. This makes me proud to be a scientific human in this age of discovery.
This is the kind of things that make Europeans proud!
Congratulations to everybody that made this possible.
Hi is that you Philae who is gentle tickling me today?
(how lovely after all these years)
This is the kind of achievements that make Europeans proud.
Congratulations to everybody that made this happen!
Muchos nervios. Animo, Filae!!
hi is that you Philae who is gentle tickling me today
(how lovely after all these years)
A fantastic attempt; no matter what ever be the final outcomes.
Science is the only way forward!!!
True heroes! Great people that are taking the first primeval steps towards the humanization of the Universe!
And that’s why we should ignore reasons to fight with each other, such as religions and politics, and instead concentrate on reaching the final frontier – then we will know who we are, only then!
rosetta rosetta, ritmo, ritmo
What is this default stuff?
Looks like Philae landed but it´s harpoons didn´t worked. Let´s hope it stays on the ground and the team can send the manual firing order via Rosetta during the time when the lander sends the first pictures of the surroundings of Ignoto.
“BYE MUM! off to land on a Comet!!! ” quote from Philae 12/11/14
I like that wide-angle OSIRIS image! Poor baby Philae trundling off in a Snowstorm!!! 🙂 🙂
–Bill
ps– congrats,
Go Philae!!! It’s wonderful!!
To read the mimic prior to landing told a lot and later it was confirmed that the lander after all settled just fine although the thruster and harpoons failed. A bit frustration was to have to listen to politicians as to me the only information of interest is the technical branch, still a very nice solar system event. Congratulation to all teams and im looking forward to hear that the eventual glithches have been taken care of.
The new layout of this Blog is prone to some issues to be corrected as on iOS 8.2 its not realy optimum. The text size function is lost and is importent for touch screen editing. Please update.
Did it land already?
To read the mimic prior to landing told a lot and later it was confirmed that the lander after all settled just fine although the thruster and harpoons failed. A bit frustration was to have to listen to politicians as to me the only information of interest is the technical branch, still a very nice solar system event. Congratulation to all teams and im looking forward to hear that the eventual glitches have been taken care of.
Hi Thomas.
Im glad that you agree with me as one thought;)
Sorry Cometstaker,
i just came across this funny thing by searching the Rosetta Blog. I wrote a comment, but this one seems to be mixed up by the blog team.
They seem to have an awful lot of work to do in times when Rosetta is (once again) a worldwide media superstar.
Congratulations once again to the whole PR-team.
Thomas Allekotte
CONGRATULATIONS! Can’t wait to see pictures from the surface and get some experiment results! Very well done!
Congratulations, ESA. An outstanding demonstration of determination, cutting edge engineering and unified purpose. You have proven great things are possible to a new generation, and you have stretched their minds beyond the mundane.
Making world history today!
AAAaawwwssome
ESA, congratulations on an epic accomplishment landing on the comet. Will remember this day the rest of my life for sure. Now looking forward to the science coming down. Thanks to everyone who made this possible.
Philae Mignon of time, well done! All that’s needed now is a nice bottle of Red ! Cheers !!
Congratulations to the individuals and institutes representing a truly international collaboration. This phenomenal success represents years of planning, testing, and flight operations just to get to this momentous occasion. That is success!
FANTASTIC, OUT OF THIS WORLD, CAN YOU IMAGINE BEING THERE ON THAT COMET WHAT IT MUST FEEL LIKE , LOOK LIKE, JUST AMAZING
Congratulations for touchdown,
from Jena/Thuringia
I had no knowledge of this event until a friend alerted me yesterday.
Brilliant achievement, which I have now shared on Facebook
A nice drawing to commemorate this event: https://nonpandoras.com/blog/10-comet-landing
Biggest congratulations from Lithuania, what a proud moment! Beautiful science is and will be taking place and I just feel absolute joy to see You make history!! At moments like this I honestly wish that my parents could live to see this. With such brilliant work You touch people very personally… It’s a wonderful feeling to be proud of humankind! Let this happen more often!
Thank you so much ESA and all involved for allowing us to be a part of this historic moment via live feed. So amazing to watch the landing unfold with the control room and the agencies, and witness the passion of all of the people who worked so hard, and with the camera lens spying in for the last day. Truly connecting the human race with shared experience. It has been so great to follow the go/no events in Germany while getting ready for sleep last night in the US and not to miss the live confirmation of landing while watching on my smartphone walking the last bit of the alley to my office this morning. Fabulous work, congrats and thanks for what you do!
Go! Baby go! From Italy with love <3
Congratulations to all of the ESA team from Los Angeles, California!
καλό ταξίδι Φίλε
Have a nice trip Philae
Awesome accomplishment! Congratulations from Squamish British Columbia Canada
Taca-le o pau, Philae véio! (Go probe Philae!)
Congratulations! What a great accomplishment for the team that’s worked so many years on this project. So cool!!!
Congratulations on an inspirational achievement.
There it goes the Lander! Such an amazing image of that little piece of Mankind so far away in the solar system. Certainly a journey of no return for Philae and Rosetta who will spend eternity orbiting around the Sun.
Congratulations to ESA for the most brilliant event since the Moon landing.
Great Job! One of the Most Important photographs of the history was made by Rosetta ^_^
Congratulation to the team. All our prayers for Philae from Pakistan. Peace and Love.
What an achievement for mankind, in moments like this our great teachers like Apollonius, Newton, Einstein and others must be shouting Bravo!, Bravo!
Just wanted to say “Congratulations”. I think we all might want to be grateful for that cliff face. If my guess work (I haven’t got the time to study the data) about the comet’s rotation is correct then that cliff probably stopped Philae from bouncing off the comet completely.
I know you are undertaking the most difficult mathematics of the project so far in deciding whether it is worth the risks. I hope that you can pool extra resources from JPL, China, India, etc as this is too important for mankind. This hop will make the mission 100% but has the risk that you lose the 50% that you have.
I’m with the gamble and the belief that the same wall that saved the landing is there to catch Philae again if there is a mistake.
Good luck guys…I’m the most excited about space that I have been in my 40 short years on Earth.
Great job so far, guys…. But one quick question, if I may (couldn’t find it answered elsewhere). If the access to solar energy is limited to the Philae lander….has anyone considered putting it into a “gray mode” or deactivating it to conserve power so the time it is exposed to sunlight each day can still charge the batteries sufficiently to continue science over a longer term?
Again congratulations on a successful mission, whatever happens to Philae! Appreciate your comments/reply.
Gratefully,
RH