Artist’s impression of Philae touchdown. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab
ESA’s Rosetta mission has soft-landed its Philae probe on a comet, the first time in history that such an extraordinary feat has been achieved.
After a tense wait during the seven-hour descent to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, the signal confirming the successful touchdown arrived on Earth at 16:03 GMT (17:03 CET).
The confirmation was relayed via the Rosetta orbiter to Earth and picked up simultaneously by ESA’s ground station in Malargüe, Argentina and NASA’s station in Madrid, Spain. The signal was immediately confirmed at ESA’s Space Operations Centre, ESOC, in Darmstadt, and DLR’s Lander Control Centre in Cologne, both in Germany.
Read the full story here.
Discussion: 50 comments
Please make a statement of the situation in a technical and not political language as those who do not understand technic don’t care anyhow and those who do only get frustrated of political buffalo dropping events.
Please be patient, Cometstalker 🙂 It’s alive, there’s a link and power. Aren’t you surprised? 🙂
https://science.orf.at/stories/1749285/
No surprise for me as i know things sometimes do not perform as planed
The link above has a nice picture that is the best resolution so far of the surface. Enjoy.
Well done Rosetta!!
https://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/%3F%3F%3F.png (he is updating every minute or so when there’s news)
https://xkcd.com/1446/
who took the picture??? or is this on a back lot of universal pictures
It’s an artist impression. Not a photograph.
The Satellite deployed that Philae probe on a comet.
More proof that Kubrick did not die!
Great. Another “Space Hoax” nutter.
If you’re actually being serious, It’s a still image from the animation of what it would look like, not the actual landing of course.
It says it is from an animation….
“Still image from animation of Philae separating from Rosetta and descending to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November 2014.”
The spacecraft was in two parts. Philae separated from Rosetta and landed on the comet, while Rosetta took pictures.
If you click on the image it says that the image is a “still” taken from an animation of what the probe will do once it reaches the comet. Obviously – It is not the actual picture of the probe.
Yeah back lot of a film studio. Twit
Description
Still image from animation of Philae separating from Rosetta and descending to the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in November 2014.
Doh! It’s not a real photograph!
My grandmother on my father’s side did
i believe its a computer animated picture
It is a shot from an animation. There has not been a picture released from the actual landing.
The Philae Probe is the lander that came from the Rosetta spacecraft. which is still in orbit around the comet. The pictures came form Rossetta
Credit: ESA/ATG medialab
In other words, it’s a computer graphic showing what it would’ve looked like. No one took that specific picture. There are several actual pictures which are available now, but none show the landing like this, because obviously they couldn’t.
That’s not an actual photo, it’s just an artistic rendering. Thought it was pretty obvious.
Excellent job!
Hi, can we pubblish (I work for the Italian newspapaer Il Sole 24 Ore) the picture where Rosetta’s Philae touch the comet?
Thanks for your answer, Maria Luisa
https://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/ESA_Multimedia/Copyright_Notice_Images
Fantastic !
Believe-me, I’m really happy !
Congratulations to everyone in the Agency.
Best rgds.
¡Que maravilla!…
What a great accomplishment! Sometimes there´s epic facts in our history that makes us believe in the real and good capacity of the Human race. Surely this was an effort of a team, but a team that makes me proud of belonging to this race. Thank you all for this enterprise. I surely fell better just knowing that this was dreamt, carried out and accomplished!
Amazing!! Congratulations ESA for a job well done. Engineers rule!
Why a still from an animation and not a real photo?
hi what the heck is that thing
funny how economic priorities change a few years after these things launch..
Good, Job Guys!
Just fantastic. Can’t wait to see the panoramic from the surface.
Is that pic of Philae the most important selfie of all time? Kudos to all involved at the ESA. Beyond impressive.
The whole world is watching!! Congratulations!!!
Well done to everyone involved. What an achievement. Truly staggering considering the time taken and the distances involved. Congrats
Really really amazıng!! Superb job and end of old dreams and new dreams welcome.we are great mr and mrs 🙂
how did you get this photo???
The picture is from https://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2014/02/Philae_touchdown and comes from an animation of how the Lander should work this can be seen on https://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2013/12/Philae_touch_down I hope this clears things up for you.
GREAT JOB!
This is exciting.
Congratulations to all those who contributed in making this happen.
It’s not a real pic !!!
“Still image from animation” 17/02/2014
https://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2014/02/Philae_touchdown
Hi all, yes indeed, as you could find out by clicking on it and following the link (and as many of you pointed out, thank you!) this image is an artist’s impression. The caption has been updated now, sorry if it slipped up, busy day!
Will Rosetta be able to image the lander when on top. I expect the engineers would like confirmation that it’s not on its side etc!
Congrats! I am flabbergasted.
Images taken and delivered from Philae of its surroundings in Agilkia will be breaking many records!
Among then is a long record keeper – that is::
Images taken by robot(s) touching ground with the largest distance to earth (510 Million Km).
A 120 feet across traveling over 41000 mph for 4 billion miles and never hit so much as a pea sized rock.
Hahahahahahahahahahah!!!
My computer puts the odds (%) of going that far unscathed at 0.00000000000001%
A 15 gram stone hitting that thing at 41000 mph would punch a hole in it you could drive a car through.
You got a better chance of driving a Kenworth between LA and NY in August without hitting a single bug.
Its only for the gullible.
JackieG,
You’re not really that stupid are you?!?!?!?! I hope you’re kidding.
Well done Rosetta team! Great job
Pics or it didn’t happen.