Rosetta’s lander Philae is out of hibernation!
The signals were received at ESA’s European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt at 22:28 CEST on 13 June. More than 300 data packets have been analysed by the teams at the Lander Control Center at the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
“Philae is doing very well: It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24 Watts available,” explains DLR Philae Project Manager Dr. Stephan Ulamec. “The lander is ready for operations.”
For 85 seconds Philae “spoke” with its team on ground, via Rosetta, in the first contact since going into hibernation in November.
When analysing the status data it became clear that Philae also must have been awake earlier: “We have also received historical data – so far, however, the lander had not been able to contact us earlier.”
Now the scientists are waiting for the next contact. There are still more than 8000 data packets in Philae’s mass memory which will give the DLR team information on what happened to the lander in the past few days on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Philae shut down on 15 November 2014 at 1:15 CET after being in operation on the comet for about 60 hours. Since 12 March 2015 the communication unit on orbiter Rosetta was turned on to listen out for the lander.
More information when we have it!
Rosetta is an ESA mission with contributions from its Member States and NASA. Rosetta’s Philae lander is contributed by a consortium led by DLR, MPS, CNES and ASI.
Discussion: 365 comments
FANTASTIC news, just saw a news flash. Please, please let it get enough power to do useful sciences, especially CONSERT. 24W is pretty good.
GREAT!
Ok..deal
Sel-fie! Sel-fie!
Agreed!
Wonderful! Hope it stays going for a while we have a lot to learn.
I’m thrilled!
Meanwhile in our little Earth we do not overcome the big small differences that do less and less human day.
Congratulations to “ESA” by the scientific achievement that means this great effort.
Just great news! Congratulations for the whole crew.
What’s the next window of opportunity for communication?
Can’t wait………
For once, I agree with you 100%, Harvey: fantastic news and especially CONSERT!
Trust me, from what I’ve heard, you’ll be seriously disappointed.
What have you “heard”, Ian. And who from? From the horse’s mouth? Please share!
More than 300 data packets received, and now more than 300 comments received. All good news.
Congratulations and goodmorning dear Philae, best wishes!
Hooray Philae! The world’s cheering for the little lander that could.
Fantastic news, I am so pleased for all the scientist involved in the mission,but also for all the people around the world who have been hoping this would happen.
Fantastic news!!!!
This is truly amazing news! Can’t wait to hear more! Congrats to ESA and partners.
Amazing!! Congrats to the whole team!
Wow! what a fantastic news! and the comet will spring into action and limelight again!! Fantastic
Bingo !!!
Congratulations to the whole team, and hopefully Philae is not at the end of it’s story but only at the beginning of it.
Anyway, until now you can see it as an almost 100% success, and all the rest to come is a great welcome.
Actually it’s more like 110% success: measurements at not one but three different locations, primary science mission somewhat completed despite the non-nominal final position and attitude, plus now a high probability for an operational lander during perihelion. What more could anyone ask for?
%110 agreed
120 Quatloos. Much more interesting time period.
That’s good new!
Good morning Philae! We’ve been waiting for you patiently!
God job!! Wellcome back Philae!!
This is great news, but didn’t it shut down in 2014…. or has it come back from the future ;P
Good!! Finally, Philae is come back… HOME! / Congratulatios, European Space Agency!!!
Saludos, desde el último lugar del mundo, Chile. Greeting, from the last place of planet, Chile.
This is another day to celebrate great Science. Looking forward to many new data, photos and results
I am so happy for the Team responsible, Congratulations … Excellent News
Hoorah!
Hourra! Enfin la partie la plus aléatoirede la mission peut continuer! Mais 24 Watts ca semble peu.
These are wonderful news! I hope it gets enough power to continue making history
You say that Philae now has “24 Watts available”. This doesn’t make much sense. The word “available” indicates that you are talking about “energy” in which case the units should be “Watt.hours” or “Watt.seconds” rather than “Watts” on its own: which is a measure of instantaneous power not how long that power is available for.
Such loose use of language doesn’t reflect well on the professionalism of ESA.
Ich denke sie meinen die Energie die die Solar Panels generieren.
Es ging um den Unterschied zwischen Energie (in Joule) und Leistung (in Watt = Joule / Sekunde).
Such loose accusation doesn’t reflect well on the professionalism of Ollie Cox. It is an instantaneous measurement. It’s how much power the solar cells are making and possibly charging the batteries. If the batteries charge for say 10 hours at 24 watts then you’d get your rating from the battery as to how many Watt.Hours you have stored.
Yes! Well said!
Who cares about units of power available? The basic unit of measure that is important is the number of hours of full operations and time to recharge thereafter… How much time does our little buddy have???
An instantaneous measure is not very useful. The actual energy available would be a much more important piece of information to obtain, followed by the rate and times at which it was accumulated. One has to guess that the message was a fragment that did not encompass these much more important data.
I imagine the solar panels are currently generating 24 Watts (or maybe 24 Watts over and above some minimum required for house-keeping. Perfectly reasonably use of “available”.
The comet is spinning – this means the solar panels are not getting constant sunlight. It’s also suspected to be in a depression – so peak energy output is likely very different than average.
There was talk when it landed about trying to get the lander to move itself out of the bad landing location. What is the window before the lander is expected to be overwhelmed by the sun’s heat?
It makes perfect sense to any engineer or scientist.
If it had 24 joules available then it could only do 24 Joules of work before needing more energy.
However if it has 24W available, then it can do work at a rate of 24 Joules of work every second, much more useful and much more likely to be what was meant. While that power is available it can continue to work.
Such accurate use of language only goes to show how difficult it is to explain science to the masses. Even when what you say is clear, correct and concise some people still can’t get it.
Hi Ollie,
I think there is some slight misunderstanding in jargon going on here. A battery would as you say have e.g. 24Wh available, and, given its rated maximum current and the voltage it has at full charge, deliver (not “have available”) a certain maximum power.
For solar cells, nomenclature would be a bit different, as a solar cell by its own does not deliver any power, no matter the rating: Light impinges on the battery and results in a voltage appearing on the terminals of the solar cell. Loading the terminals will result in a current to flow and the voltage to drop – at a specific “maximum power point”, i.e. fine-tuned load on the solar cell, the cell will convert the impinging power most efficiently.
As the impinging solar power is dependent on the illumination level (this becoming high enough is what we’d all hoped for Philae), stating the solar cells now have 24W available is perfectly reasonable and the correct technical jargon.
Hope that helps,
Alex
As Jadzia wrote, that is the power output available from the solar panels, not energy available from batteries. Recall that after a number of bounces in the comet’s tiny gravity, it came to rest in the shadow of a ledge or cliff. But the comet has now moved to a point in its orbit where sun is able to reach the solar panels.
This is an impressive achievement for the probe’s electronics to survive the months of extreme cold in that shadow.
Picky. The important thing is it’s back on
You should have at least googled “available power”. Energy is not a good measure for device capacity as 10 Watt.hours can be spent in a second and nothing prevents us to still use Watt.years for the unit.
Rated average power is annotated to devices as to mean how much can it deliver per unit of time consistently.
Finally they sent the *thing* to space and landed on another weird *thing* and still you question professionalism over a blog post and units?
These PR releases and blogs are not written by technical people.
Hi Rosetta-Team
awesome, unbelievable great news !! I´m so happy to hear from our little Hopper 😀
He showed not only that he can jump better than Cernan und Schmitt on the moon,
but also great knight errantry waiting a half year in darkness untill the sun dawns .
Evrey week i was looking for some news and prayed that u didn´t tilt over or got hit by some roaming stone or w/e.
Thankfully u did it !
Wish u all the best and can´t wait for the amazing scientific data he will collect now.
Salute Rosetta, Salute Philae and all their kinsfolk
Yours truly
Johannes
This is absolutely brilliant news, what a fantastic achievement this has been from landing on the Comet, bouncing across it, transmitting for 60 hours, hibernating & now waking up over 6 months later – this is breathtaking science, amazing design and robustness, and we all eagerly await the data and hopefully other experiments that Philea will now be able to perform. This is a dream come true.
…and yet I can’t buy a 1A 250V slow burn fuse for my boiler on a Sunday. Well done esa.
Good morning. Rough night?
This is sooo exciting!!! Please give me info as soon as you have it!! :-)!!!!
This is really fantastic news! Congratulations to the Rosetta team at ESA. Sincerely hope we’ll get lots of science from Philae.
Yippeee! Can we rename it Lazarus?
Outstanding news!
I presume that earlier firmware update worked (the one that allows Philae to communicate earlier) ? What data did you receive?
Oh, brilliant!,, the brave little thing! 24 watts!
And her first words were “there is no ice on this thing”.
Yippee!
This is purely awesome. ESA rulez – Philae roxx!
Great news 😉
You plucky little lander – great having you back!
J’ai hâte d’en savoir un peu plus… Est-ce que Philae avait assez d’énergie pour prendre des données pendant son hibernation?
On ne sait pas encore exactement.
Philae est probablement réveillé dejà plus tôt.
Mais on ne sais pas encore quand, la première fois.
OMG 😀
You’re a rock star !
Absolutely amazing. Congrats to everyone involved. Can’t wait to read more!
A huge “Well done!” to all those engineers, scientists, and other brilliant ones who managed to plan and implement such an amazing task. Designing such a complicated system to work in such a challenging environment from this big distance and being able to successfully handle this unexpected situation— I bow before you. This is true rocket science. Thanks so much.
Jochen, your comment is an understatement! I fully support what you say, this truely an amazing feat of science and engineering. Everyday I checked to see if the little probe woke up and finally it did. I am so happy for the whole team.
As a beginner in coding, I’d love to see a flow diagram of the code logic that shows how scientist coded the probe with the ability to monitor it’s power available, shut itself down when too low, detect when power became available, then power itself back up AND communicate all this to Rosetta. Brillant! I also bow before the scientist and engineers involved!
Great, Great, Great !!
Now the hope is that SD2 could take some sample of the soil to be anlyzed by COSAC and Ptolemy. This is the main action to understand the real nature of organics in the surface and, probably, to understand
the reasons of enigmatic surface layering.
What a mission this has been, when you think of it ; it’s truly our generation’s Apollo moment.
Congrats to everyone involved for your fantastic job!
Oops! Thanks to all for noticing the typo – it was quite a busy morning as you can imagine! 🙂
Wonderful News!!!
As soon as that tiny little typo is fixed I hope you can delete most of the 25 needlessly repetitive comments (now including this one) from all those super smart eagle-eyed folks who just didn’t have time to read all the comments before them, saying the same thing.
This is time for great celebration and historical achievement.
Go Philae!
Did you put any drama subroutines in his code because he’s playing his audience like a pro! excellent. My favourite science documentary and soap entertainment rolled into one.
Fantastic news. Glad to see that philae made it back. Expecting more interesting data coming back to us !
Yess!!!!!! Tell us your story, Philae 🙂
Bravoooooo
Impressionnant !!!!!!!
Fantastic news! A mini triumph for the lander team. I bet there are some very happy scientists at ESA right now. Congratulations to the whole Rosetta team.
Any chance of some CIVA images in the near future? I guess CONSERT data is the priority.
“I guess CONSERT data is the priority.”
You bet it is!
The CONSERT data is indeed crucial in finally elucidating the mystery of the apparent discrepancy between the homogeneous nature of the comet’s interior which was already confirmed by the truncated findings of Philae before its unscheduled hibernation (not to speak of the vast body of accumulated visual evidence of solid, boulder-strewn, cliff-and-canyon formed, stratified rock…) on the one hand, and the “calculated” density of that of a champagne cork on the other (the final bastion of standard theory…).
I eagerly await the complementary findings from CONSERT (both “historical” and henceforth), even if it takes several months for them to be disclosed, just like all the other cutting-edge data-sets from this mission which have as yet strangely not been disclosed (the vast body of OSIRIS images, jet-temperature data and electromagnetic field data in the vicinity of the jets, etc. etc.).
Thomas, yes, just for once, we agree.
But there will be huge competition for the available energy; at 2.5W CONSERT is pretty frugal, but needs to run for long periods.
But it does make demands on the positioning of Rosetta relative to Philae, and Philae needs to be ‘awake’ at the appropriate times. Further difficulty if Rosetta has to say well out for safety reasons, which will reduce signal to noise; CONSEERT is the type of experiment where you may need to integrate up a lot of data to get something useful, and ‘inverting’ that data into a useful result is non trivial.
Overall I think it is likely to be a long time before we see substantial CONSERT data on any scale, for entirely legitimate technical reasons.
(They might use it again to help get Philae’s exact location, but that is an ‘in space’ use of it, not ‘through comet’, and far, far easier.)
Hi Thomas,
The calculated density is not a final bastion of anything. It falsifies any theories which require a density far greater than that – Period.
With Philae awake there are a lot more things it can look at with the cameras as well. Erosion or lack thereof on sunlit surfaces. Doppler data in conjunction with CONSERT to determine any changes in the comet’s dimensions. Also should be accurate enough to compare density of different parts of C-P. E.g. If one lobe is denser than the other or if Anuket is more dense than other parts of the neck, etc.
I suspect a distinct lack of measurable erosion, and a hard, high molecular weight hydrocarbon surface.
CONSERT shouldn’t be a risk. I hope it works over almost 200 km.
But I’m not quite sure, how to find a compromise between data transmission during solar illumination, and CONSERT measurements through the comet.
Probably by phases of measurements and phases of data transmission. The team will find (probably already has found) a solution.
It certainly complicates things for CONSERT considerably if they can only operate whilst illuminated. But I haven’t actually seen that from ESA, and I’m unclear why it would be necessary once the rechargeable battery is warm enough, as it nearly seems to be. Where did that statement come from Gerald?
IIRC the statement has been by the initial designer of Philae during a talk.
After finally landing in the shadow, they didn’t expect to get the lander sufficiently warm to charge the battery.
But now it seems, the place isn’t quite as shadowed as feared.
I guess, they’ll first operate without rechargeable, and later see, whether they can reasonably load the battery without wasting too much energy for heating.
… if the blind-commanding worked – that’s probably not yet clear – all available energy has been redirected to heating, in contrast to the initial programming.
So let’s first see, how the -5°C have been achieved.
Wow. Amazing news. Congratulations from Mongolia.
Oh heyyy, Philae! So glad to hear you’re awake from your long slumber! Looking forward to more discoveries about Comet 67P 🙂
Such good news!!! Now hoping Philae is fully functional.
Hey! Did anyone notice that the date is wrong? In that case, make sure you post a message about it BEFORE you read what others have posted!
Good morning sleepy head!
” O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
As Lewis Carroll so eloquently put it.
He’s alive! He’s alive! The little fella lives!
Excellent News!
Welcome back, dear little one, we missed you!
Great news ! Philae is back in the spotlights !
Wonderful and exciting news! Congratulations to the whole team!
Great news! I was hopping for this moment since 7 months! Congratulations!
Hallo philae; you are here now !!!
Well, not a whole lot to add other than a big congratulations! Hopefully the cold didn’t bite off any of the science instruments.
Congratulations! This is amazing news. Let’s hope there will be photos as well as other data. Extraordinary that it kept going during that long night. Well done ESA!
Fantastic news about the ‘wake up’ of the robot. What a significant scientific achievement. I hope there is highly useful data from it in the months to come.
Congratulations!!!!
Awesome news! Hope you get much information again! 😀
Come on! Shake a leg Philae – you have some catching up to do!
wonderful news… ALL THE BEST
Great news, way to go ESA!!!
Good morning mate, missed you a lot enjoy your stay and tell us your wonderful stories and dreams
so happy to hear from Philae!
Congratulations to ESA!!!
Buenas noticias. Espero grandes descubrimientos en esta nueva y renovada aventura de exploración y descubrimiento. Suerte y ánimo para ingenieros y científicos de la misión. L
Wow, what a comeback!
Congrats to the team!
Good morning sunshine !! We’ve got lots to talk about.
Very happy to hear this wonderful news. I was already fearing Philae will not be able to communicate with us again !
24 Watt is a unit of power. To say that Philae has 24 W available is meaningless unless you say how long this power can be maintenaid. Is this an official ESA communication?
Agree the 24W available is an over-simplification. The temp is -35 degC and some electrical power is used to heat the batteries to 0 degC first leaving less available for everything else. The power lasts ~2 hr every 12.4 hr whilst the panels are illuminated. Ambient temp rising every day.
GREAT – BIG Congratulation !!!!
WooHoo ! Congratulations to all the scientists, engineers, technologist, and builders who designed this robust piece of space technology. I’m in awe of your accomplishments.
I second that. And now we have some interesting risk management tasks to overcome!
Congratulations and best wishes,
Kamal
Welcome back,Philae !!!!! Good luck into research of Churyumov-Gerasimenko comet !
Good news!
About the date… All of the blog entries from the end of 2014 are mis-dated as 2015.
Fantastic news, can’t wait for the next cartoon
Yeah ! Awesome ! Go Philae, Go !
Excellent news. Job well done.
Oh YEAH!! Been waiting for this day to happen. Congrats on the continued efforts to all those involved. You all must be buzzing with excitement again.
With so great news, some people is just worried about a typo. Well, that tells a lot about you.
Good morning, Philae. Thanks ESA team for your hard work and for never giving up. Keep us posted!
Great news. When will next communication occur? What was in the data received? Keep fingers crossed.
Incredible news, wishfully waiting it to happen, since Philae landed on the comet, now it’s a new opportunity which will add valuable information to our planet, a lot of new science to examine from the infinite years behind to infinite years ahead, in an endless, infinite universe.
@Philae2014 Twitter, Twitter little satellite, how I wonder if you’re all right 😉 #WakeUpPhilae @ESA_Rosetta #CometLanding
Maybe an alien race has taken over and reprogrammed and rebooted it !
Nanu-nanu! Mork Calling Olsen!
Orsen, Mork calling Orsen.
Excellent excellent news!! My fingers were metaphorically crossed for this to happen. I’m so pleased for everyone on the team. Is there enough sunlight to start work again? I wonder and hope so. Bring on the future of Philae!
I knew you won’t give up. Shaka litte Boy.
Thanks goes to the responsible team. You are great.
https://diskutierbar.com
Great ! Great ! Great ! Big compliments to every body involved. Great tech. Hopefully Philae can still do experiments and provide some pictures ! Great news !
🙂 ¡Absolutely amazing!
I’d like to add to the generally expressed congratulations to the lander team, a more explicit compliment. A good many years ago now, there were those who did the detailed design, checked it, assembled it, and tested it. They will mainly have moved on to other jobs. The ‘hands that held the soldering iron, the spanner’ etc were vital to this success, and also deserve our explicit thanks.
(BTW yes of course it is an instantaneous power; so would a statement of the current battery charge state in Joules (or whatever your preferred unit is) be a snapshot. It’s a quick first report, the full details may not even be known yet. Give them a break!)
I second that. This is also a moment to express appreciation for the design which incorporated solar energy and made this revival possible.
Kamal
@ Harvey
“I’d like to add to the generally expressed congratulations to the lander team, a more explicit compliment. A good many years ago now, there were those who did the detailed design, checked it, assembled it, and tested it. They will mainly have moved on to other jobs. The ‘hands that held the soldering iron, the spanner’ etc were vital to this success, and also deserve our explicit thanks.”
I agree 100% (again). The engineers and technicians have indeed done an amazing job, in every single aspect of the Rosette mission.
The way to operate the lander has been re-designed. The battery isn’t planned to be loaded. Instead the operations are executed directly with the available power. That’s possible above about -40°C.
First heating, then experiments. Battery loading would have needed further heating to above 0°C.
Due to the mostly shadowed solar panels this new approach appeared to be the most efficient solution.
Gerald, have you got a reference? They are now saying only -5C, so very little heating needed now. Use of the storage battery would be hugely helpful to CONSERT for example. It might be very difficult to organise appropriate positioning of Rosetta wrt Philae whilst the latter is illuminated.
I don’t think, that there is a publicly accessible source reference at the moment.
The first step is now to learn more about the status.
Might be the way to operate will be re-assessed once more. I’m sure we’ll learn more via the blog, as soon as the team itself will know more and will have made a decision.
My short-term prognosis is, they’ll first operate without rechargeables somewhere near -30°C to use as much energy as possible for science activities.
Finally I found a generally accessible french website with the information:
https://rosetta.cnes.fr/fr/le-sonc-prepare-le-reveil-de-philae
“Si le contact est rétabli avec Philae dans les jours ou les semaines qui viennent, le SONC sera à nouveau en première ligne pour gérer le planning des activités scientifiques ?
Cédric Delmas : « Les équipes du SONC sont mobilisées depuis plusieurs mois pour redéfinir toutes les activités que l’on pourrait faire immédiatement après que Philae se réveillera. Nous devons être prêts à lui envoyer des séquences d’utilisation des différents instruments scientifiques dans les meilleurs délais. À l’heure actuelle, nous avons établi différents scénarios pour prendre en compte l’environnement de Philae, son illumination, le niveau d’énergie dont il dispose, etc. La très grande différence par rapport à ce que nous avions imaginé avant l’atterrissage, c’est que nous ne chargerons pas la batterie, ce qui nous aurait permis d’établir des programmes sur du plus long terme. Mais nous savons que si Philae ne communique pas, c’est très probablement parce que les panneaux solaires ne fournissent pas suffisamment d’énergie électrique pour que sa batterie puisse se recharger. Nous nous préparons donc à travailler uniquement pendant le jour local, en utilisant l’énergie solaire en direct, sans passer par une phase de stockage. Il s’agit d’un mode de fonctionnement que nous n’avions pas anticipé avant l’atterrissage et il a fallu redéfinir toutes les activités scientifiques en prenant en compte ces nouvelles contraintes. »”
Merci!
… And faster than the posts can be approved updates are coming in, the battery is sufficiently warm – seems the -5°C refer to the battery – that there seems to be a chance to load it. This would make operations much more easy.
But this is all still preliminary.
The available memory on Philae is filled and waits for downlink. With more complete data the interpretation should be more reliable.
Houston we got a problem
Stop tweeting and save your energy for more important jobs
Rise and shine sleepy head, time for work!
Fantastic news and a great day for european space science!!!
However we are massively lacking in the PR campagning America is capable of. Just imagine what it would look like if it was was their project.
How often do you think it would be plastered over all news outlets ?
Basically we had a white refrigiator with 3 legs decending upon the comet. If it was from UnitedBluff it would have a massive stars`n`striped fluttering on a wire behind it.
We really need to learn that our sciencitic succeses has to be trumped up to encourage children to scienctific education.
ESA RULES!!! The more often we shout it, the more true it becomes. Learn the “American way”!
Unfortunately, we in the US are not quite as good at leveraging scientific success with massive PR as you might imagine. While those of us interested in space science get extremely excited about the successes of missions like Rosetta and Dawn and (soon) New Horizons, that excitement is not often shared by the general news media. Perhaps that is because they do not see enough drama in it. The “7 Minutes of Terror” landing of Mars Science Laboratory probably got more general media coverage than all of the following science it has since produced.
But this story has it all — a story of an epic journey, of success and elation, of loss and disappointment, of determination and persistence, and of reawakening. Let’s hope this generates some great PR in the general media both in Europe and the US.
Congratulations to everyone involved!!
Ditto, Frank. Well said!!! Philae, I have waited 7 whole months. Please send us all the details of your bouncy touchdown last November and how close did you come to the edge? Whew, you’re safe, little Philae!
Fantastic news. “Moar science!”, as Scott Manley would put it.
Or in the words of Dr. Frankenstein: “It’s alive!”
Yuhuuuuu!!
Buenos dias! Y Enhorabuena!
Time to get back to work sleepy!
😉
Incredible news, welcome back Philae, we’ve been waiting. 🙂
Big congratulations to the ESA team – this event proves how amazingly well this mission was executed and planned – and even more how well built this little spacecraft and his lander are.
Really thrilled to hear what the collected data is all about!
Amazing news. Johnny Philae is alive!!! #shortcircuit
Heh Heh I’m with you on that…No dissassemble…
I can’t help myself but think of this image of this poor little Philae trying unsuccessfully to reach her mother, calling and crying alone on his cold, dark and lonely comet.
He is now secure with a new link with his mom. Great !
https://www.dlr.de/blogs/en/desktopdefault.aspx/tabid-8684/
I clicked the “DLR Blog” in the headline of this website here.
The latest information DLR has to offer as a participant of the Rosetta / Philae mission is dated July 14 , 2014 .
This is ELEVEN MONTH .
IN DLR terms
> no site selection
> no landing
> no crash
> no hibernation
> no landing site
> no system restart
Hoorey! Finally! This gives the mission a new superdrive!
Congratulations!
Keep up the good work.
Regards.
Quite good spanis siesta Philae!! Why don’t you have inside a RTG (Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator) like Voyager, Cassini, Pioneer space probes?
ESA has never deployed a craft with an RTG to my knowledge. RTGs have always been a somewhat touchy subject over safety concerns if one is destroyed due to a launch failure. There is also a significant problem in obtaining the Pu238 needed (other isotopes such as Am241 are possible, but I think all space RTGs have been Pu238. Sr90 has been used in some Russian terrestrial RTGs.)
So ESA seems to have stayed away from RTGs.
An RTG would have been a good option for Rosetta, but techically I’m not so sure for Philae. You need waste heat radiators, and the shielding etc is heavy, they are usually out on a boom. None too clear this would really work for a small craft like Philae.
RTGs aren’t part of ESA’s “green” policy.
No official explanations, but some insightful speculations: https://nucleardiner.com/2014/11/15/wasnt-philae-given-rtg/
“Weight, citizen protests, availability of Pu-238, foreign technolgy for ESA, short mission duration”
And an official explanation: https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Frequently_asked_questions
“ESA has not developed RTG (i.e. nuclear) technology, so the agency decided to develop solar cells that could fill the same function.”
Nothing wrong with solar for this project, just hibernate, then get to work while the sun shines. I think they should do it for another couple of orbits if the can – hibernate, observe, hibernate, observe. Activity cycles just like the comet.
Unfortunately Rosetta would run out of thruster propellant I fear.
As far as I can tell, they would need to be extremely frugal, and have very low expectations of close passes. If Rosetta stays sun-side close to Rosettas hill sphere, there should be the occasional tiny thrusts to keep in touch with the comet nucleus. Even the occasional drift to thousands of kilometres and back would be extremely useful as long term observations have even more value than really close observations IMHO.
There is the obvious cost of keeping the mission funded, but as is always the case, mission extensions are way cheaper than new missions.
They’ve made the decision to land on the comet, September 2016, provided an extended mission is approved.
Unless there is a VERY compelling reason to change plan and re-hybernate. One could be if 67P comes close to completely fracturing, but not quite. Another could be to give Philae another opportunity to do experiments, although I suspect this may be speculative and use more fuel than long term, medium distance observations.
Just great!
So happy for the whole team who worked so hard to make it possible. So proud of you all, and thanks for all your hard work!
This is the single best news item of the week! ROCK ON!
Nearly lost control of the car, air-punching when when I heard this news! Fantastic to hear back from Philae. I look forward to seeing what arises from the historical mission data, and what can now be done in near real time.
Ohhhh… Now I can’t sleep anymore until we hear from the content of that 8000 packages! And of course about the first 300 packages as well.
Great effort !
Greetings to all !
Wonderful (and unexpected) news! Huge credit must go to the engineers who designed and built this astonishingly tough bit of kit, and I hope the mission scientists get the maximum amount of data from it over the next few weeks.
13 number – lucky number 🙂 Best wishes for Philae. This year was full of waiting, now it’s becoming much more interesting what news will Philae bring to us. I’m waiting only for good and interesting news :)))
Hi, I’m wondering if this means that we can expect more data from the science done in november. In other words, have all these data been downlinked already or could it be that some of this is still in the 8000 data packets awaiting to be downlinked now the lander has revived. Anyone?
The downlinkj time of just 40 seconds has been sufficient for just a small part of the data stored on Philae. The other data are awaiting downlink.
There should be housekeeping data of three days (or maybe more).
Hiiieee,,,Very sweet gudmorning philae..!!
Just getting finger crossed for getting more sunlight on solar panels to generate power for more science data as we hv really waited a long long yrs n investment..
—->Now we deserve d fruits..
#MotownPhilaeBackAgain!
Dear philae, this is great news! Thanks for waking up!
good job!!
YAY that is SO AWESOME! welcome back little darling <3
Great! Was waiting for this very good news. Looking forward to the next episode in the “Once upon a time” animation series, so I can put it on my blog.
Magnifique, on attend la suite avec impatience….
major awesome ESA Dudes! We of More Major Awesome NASA Dudes congrats to youz!!
Good stuff. The designers of Philae will be chuffed. Despite challenges, it all worked.
¡Que chevere! Esta es una gran noticia. Felcitaciones a la ESA.
I caught this news this morning. What a wonderful breakthrough. Congratulations to the ESA Team — extremely happy for you. …Rowby
…and the dream continues! 🙂
Great news! But the fact that Philae survived 6 months of hibernation and has woken up is a triumph for engineering – we´re still wairting for the science..
Or as historian of technology Nathan Rosenberg put it – “Science owes more to engineering than engineering owes to science” ´;^)
Welcome back Philae ! You made us fear ! Nice to see you again !
Excelentes noticias!!!! mis felicitaciones al equipo de ESA. Esperando con muchas ansias toda la información que van a recibir de Philae
Great news! Kudos to the Lander team! and congratulations to ESA/Rosetta Team! Go, Philae!
FInally!!!! Good news but even better development team!!!
Welcome back Philae. I have been checking his site every day for months to hear this good news. Congrats to the ESA!
This is really great news. Cant wait to hear what information has been gathered.
Yes !!! I was waiting to ear this news !!!!! Lets hope for the best !! Congratulations ESA !!!
we still know nothing
we just have this song without words
As though nothing had been done
Awesome news! Wonderful and exciting news! Congratulations to all you in whole team!
Bravo. Our Intrepid Explorer comes through!
🙂
–Bill
GREAT! May be we’ll have some pictures on next days?
Best news I’ve heard in months!
Great news!
This is far more better than a science fiction story!
This is real!
Great news!!!
Repeating most everyone’s congratulations. I actually had this ‘gut feeling’ that we wouldn’t hear anything from Philae, so I am ecstatic. The ESA and the Rosetta Mission people must also be ecstatic, to say the LEAST! Love this!
That’s THE triumph! Go Philae, go!
Great news! Congratulations to ESA. Very much looking forwards to see what’s been found 🙂
Awesome, unbelievable great news.
It seems to me that -35°C is a very warm temperature; the temperature is measured inside Philae?
Philae has heaters to warm its sensitive components.
Awesome news! Can’t wait to see new scientific discoveries coming our way. Well done guys!!
Cheers!!,
The software guys have done a great job there.
Congratulations ESA, so many daring space missions fail (the odds are so high) but every now and then we humans need a little bit of luck. To bounce 3 times and land under the protection of a cliff may yet turn out to be the best place for observing the comet’s surface. Thank you for contributing to our knowledge of comets, I feel the information collected by this mission is going to be cherished by future generations.
Wow! and Wow Again!
That’s what I thought too
Los que pensabamos que estar a la sombra le podía servir para no morir de calor en el perihelio y poder mandar datos cuando más actividad haya en el cometa hemos despertado a ese sueño, ajalá se cumpla.
Good luck on further research guys!
I got up this Sunday morning and was greeted with the news that Philae had woken up! Today is my birthday and this is a fabulous gift. Thank you, Philae and Rosetta. Thanks and congratulations to the ESA.
Sam Hunt
Visalia, California, USA
I had pretty much given up and thought that any further attempts to establish contact were built on false hope. Well, Philea and ESA proved me wrong.
Incredible! Congratulations to all.
One question remains:
Where are you EXACTLY ?????
That’s some great news. Congratulations!
Welcome back little jumper Glad to see yo are still alive. Curious to hear more from you. Hope you will bring us some more news even in 2 months from now. Stay with us as long as possible.
Perseverance rewarded, earning another honorable place in space-tech history: Kudos for the teams that researched, built, maintain and operate this little robot wonder and the valiant mothership. Your success should motivate us humans to apply similar brainpower for solving the menacing problems we face on our precious Earth . — that would be the greatest reward our exploration of the universe could ever produce. Wake us up too — we’re trapped here in a dangerous rut and need your help. Good morning, Philae.
The miracle continues ! Congratulations to ESA & The Rosetta ream at re-establishing contact – I assume the angle of the solar cells has changed over the past few months permitting the fuel cells to recharge ? (or perhaps a problem with the antenna has been sorted ?) . Hopefully there will be enough power to deploy the harpoons & try improve the position / vantage point.Great to be back in contact anyway. A big up to my friend (& fellow amateur astrophysicist ) Matt who is emigrating to Boston on Monday. I’m looking for packets of data from both him & Philae in the coming weeks !
The experiments have been revised to work without the rechargeable.
Amazing! Congratulations to the whole team! Hope to see more in future 😉
Rumpelstiltskin: “Must have taken a great many blacksmiths to build that I imagine. “
Fantastic! Science rules, this is the best news I’ve heard in a long time. Congratulations to the team at ESA!!
So glad that the batteries made by my colleagues at ABSL have managed to work. The effort the Philae team put into charging those batteries and making this work is awesome, congratulations.
I totally agree with Michael. This great result could not have come about without some impressive battery design! To be capable of taking a charge from the solar panels after such a long deep freeze is a testament to the ABSL team’s design and construction. It will be interesting to discover from the earlier data packets just how long it took Philae to start functioning after the initial battery drain.
Obviously Space exploration is a mature and adult profession. So I will gracefully say, In your face NASA! Beat that one Russia!
On come on now… We are all in this together! Some instruments on Rosetta are designed, buipt and supplied from your good friends at NASA. We Americans applaud ESA and these amazing accomplishments! Hearty Congratulations! We are also sitting on the edges of our seats. This message is from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
WoW.
You rocks!
Really a great news for us.
A huge congrats, ESA!
Astonishing response form the world ! I have to say, my life now feels complete, what a fantastic result.
Heartfelt congratulations to the teams. 🙂
As I understand it the rechargeable battery on Philae has a capacity of about 130 Wh, and the solar panels are rated at 32W at 3AU. So to put things into some sort of perspective, 24W from the panels is not bad at all and if it’s all used for charging could fully charge the battery in a few hours. I’d be grateful for confirmation of my figures from someone who actually knows what he’s talking about.
Anyway if I’m right I think that means some more good science from Philae could on the cards. 🙂
And let’s not forget Rosetta!
As long as temperature is below 0°C power will go directly into the experiments.
Almost all Philae operations have been revised in the past months, since the solar illumination is quite different from the assumptions for the first touch-down loction.
I’d suggest, that those operational restructurings of the “long term science” phase should be explained in one of the future blog posts. I’ve only fragmentary information.
Great news! What’s the size of the data packets?
WoW. Just WOW. As far as i (and so many people) am/are concerned this has already been one of the greatest ever space missions. And now it`s getting even better. Go ESA!
Hopefully all this success will push ESA budgets forward for the future as well. Looking at the size of the European economy Europe should eventually have an ESA that is on par or bigger then NASA. Just as CERN has made Europe big again in physics like Europe was in the early days of Albert Einstein.
The more the world&humanity can do in space the better. Their is an entire Universe waiting to be explored.
Yes, Big Thinking is what this almost stalling Europe is missing (SE speaking)
Anyway Philae awakening is the best news for weeks.
Congregations Philae!! I hope to see soon your next chapter.
What wonderful News !!
Well done all involved. Brilliant, carry on ESA
Congratulations to all the people involved in this more amazing mission than I (you too??) had seen until few hours ago, and also to all those who have been waiting for this news!! I’m sure that the Rosetta/Philae teams have been ready for this moment now. Science with Philae again!! At the right time!!
Some thoughts in my mind:
First thing to do maybe, to analyse the power productions from each solar arrays and rotate Philae’s body again to get sunshine as much as possible, if there’s still more degrees to achieve it. Maximise it!!
I wonder what kind of (new) “energy” this news happens to start generating in the mission teams. Do they start feeling they should change Rosetta’s trajectory to have more contact with Philae?? To know Philae’s exact location gets more priority or less priority, comparing to other things the mission teams want NOW??
If there is scientific value, I hope to see the new CIVA panorama pictures which will be taken with exactly the same “setting” as the so-called first panorama from the surface of a comet. I mean, at the same “comet” time as that, with same exposure time etc as that. So that we can see how the view from Philae has changed since then. Watching recent NAVCAM pictures, I wonder what one of CIVA cameras which sees open space sees!
Looking forward to more news from Philae AND on Philae, along with the news from Rosetta!!
I had a quick google for Philae fact sheets.
The photovoltaic system is rated at 32W @ 3 AU, so that’s power generation and the statement 24W available means it’s running at about 75% generating power at about 1.2AU distance from the sun. So that’s pretty good.
There are two batteries; a 1000Wh non-rechargable which was used in the first 60 hours and a 140Wh operating battery. So I assume any available power not being used will charge the operating battery.
1000/60 hours implies 16W operating power and on the S@N they mentioned 5.5W for the computer, leaving about 10.5 for the other experiments.
The drill requires 1W standby and 12W operating.
Hope that helps. Anyone from ESA want to confirm?
Your opening sentences are a bit ambiguous.
32W at 3AU would scale to (3/1.2)^2 times 32W at 1,2 AU, or 200W.
So 24W is only 12% of the full illumination 1.2AU expected power. So badly shaded. How *long* it gets that each comet day is crucial; what re really care about is watt.hours per comet ‘day’.
(But we are still further out than 1.2 – thats ~ perihelion isnt it?)
However it is 74% of the 3AU power; but its not clear why they quote that, Philae was not used at 3AU; figures at 3AU are more relevant to Rosetta.
CONSERT uses 2.5W, but needs to be on for long periods.
Things like the cameras, the drill, are typically short duration.
There will be some tough discussions over who-gets-what!
The Philae team has prepared this in detail during the past months. They worked as if awakening of Philae in June would have been sure.
I’m sure we’ll learn more in some of the next blog posts.
Interesting point, Harvey. Re the allocation of “power”. My inside track on this says it will be CONSERT. But I may be wrong. I kind of think there will be no good news for the EU fantasists in this data. However, that’s a given.
Ianw16
CONSERT has the advantage it’s frugal at 2.5W, but it constrains Rosetta orbits to some extent.
It seems to me that it’s ability to give, almost uniquely, insight into the internal structure should give it some priority. (The only other way is very detailed orbit analysis, but it can’t compete with CONSERT.)
The very limited data they got last time was on fairly short path-through-the-comet measurements I think; it remains to be seen if the signal to noise is good enough on paths running right through 67P.
I suspect, rather sadly, that one down side is that it’s data is not very ‘press release friendly’; pictures, drill results etc are far more popular press publication friendly 🙁
CONSERT really is a very clever experiment, innovative, and whilst I wish all the experiments well, it would be my top pick.
IanW16: I guess Consert will also help in identifying the precise location of Abydos, which will make communication better.
A few weeks ago we saw the “sunset jets” which seem pretty close to Philae’s suspected location. Can Consert measurements be made through them which will help determine their composition?
Kamal
It’s very unlikely CONSERT would get any useful data on a jets. Assuming it is an unionised gas/dust jet, the density of the jet will be much too low to produce measurable signal delays, which is how CONSERT works, and very little absorption or scatter.
If the jet were indeed ionised, as some here suggest, it might be opaque to CONSERT signals. This would depend on its plasma frequency, which in turn depends on its electron density, which of course we are never told.
However, to be fair to the people suggesting that, a plasma frequency below 90MHz, the CONSERT operating frequency, would not completely rule out a plasma, though it would be a very tenuous one. (The earth’s ionosphere plasma frequency gets up to maybe 30MHz or so, and so called sporadic E event on earth, transient patches of ionisation, can go over 150MHz or more. Certainly the measurement of CONSERT signals would rule out anything other than rather low density plasma in the path.)
Hello Kamal,
The thing I’ve been led to believe is that if they can pinpoint an actual location for the lander, not only will future data be better constrained, but previous data will also be better constrained. I’m also led to believe that none of this will be good news for EU fantasists. However, none of this will come as a shock to most scientifically literate people.
So happy to hear that Little Philae is doing well on Comet 67P. Congratulations to European Space Agency and its Member countries. This is a historical moment.
From Kerala, Cochin.
I have wanted Philae to be working at perihelion, hopefully in full form. So I had thought sleeping for a while is totally OK. Don’t wake up too early. But to be honest, I started worrying in late May, Because, as having been explained by the lander team members, it would be possible that Philae would never wake up again. But I think I have believed in the chart of Philae’s power prediction presented by Dr Ulamec at EGU (29m02s on the video on https://client.cntv.at/egu2015/PC1). And here he is!!
It’s like astronaut hibernating until arrival at destination described in 2001 A Space Odyssey etc, isn’t it. As if something or someone (or Philae himself???) put Philae on a location to make him sleep, rejecting the mission team’s idea of Agilkia, in order to wake up at the right time!!
Spacebob Squareprobe?
Now this is what makes great news.
Congratulations Philae, congratulations ESA!
How could You guys think I am in deep sleep? It was sunlight illuminating my panels in an obscure angle. Now turn me to gulp more sun and I will be at your service!
your friendly … Philae
I wonder if Philae also has to prove that he’s “not a robot” when he sends a message…..
Let’s see some Selfies, Princess.
Man can do amazing stuff with Science in space. Meanwhile some barbarians are destroying our planet with money, religions, power and basic ignorance…
Ok so it’s up and running again. So here’s my next question. What good is this spacecraft to humanity? You’ve probably guessed I’m not a scientist or remotely scientific minded. All that money to go to an asteroid! If someone can please explain how it will benefit us I would be grateful. There is no not criticism from me as yet I simply want to know what we can get from this that helps the world?
Well at least someone has built a very good battery that proved to withstand extremely harsh conditions for months.
Increasing our general knowledge about the world can’t hurt, too.
There is more money spent on worse things IMHO. Like 1.747 billion $ a year for weapons.
OK Kevin – I will take up your challenge. First, a correction to your email: this is a comet, not an asteroid. You say you are not remotely scientifically minded. That should not preclude you from having an enquiring mind!
As for use, well the simple answer is that exploration and discovery enhances every one of us. That may or may not be a material or financial gain, but in your words it without doubt “helps the world”.
In more material terms (which is what you seem to be getting at in your question), meeting the challenges that missions such as this present has led to huge strides in communications technology, production of robust and miniaturised electronics and tools which can be used in minerals exploration and exploitation here on Earth, major developments in battery miniaturisation, efficiency, robustness – all essential steps in producing reliable, portable power supplies – and improved solar cell technology. The huge challenges in areas such as orbital mechanics and lander capability on this mission in particular will enhance our capabilities for other missions. Looking further afield, these are first steps to having the ability to mine and exploit asteroids, the Lunar surface, even Mars.
The list could go on. Just use your imagination Kevin – there are no limits! 🙂
Kevin
The honest answer is probably nothing, maybe some minor spin- out.
But the thirst to understand our universe is one thing that separates us from animals.
As a scientist and (sadly ex) mountaineer, two quotes about why climb mountains come to mind.
Malory, re Everest ‘because it is there.’
But a less well known one, Whymper I think ‘if you have to ask the question, you will never understand the answer.’
For some there is an unquenchable thirst to understand how, why, where from……..
I think if we stop doing it, we become ‘less human’ in some sense. Things like Rosetta, the LHC, are perhaps almost closer to art; there is no practical application; it’s about being human.
Hundred years ago one may have asked Albert Einstein: What is General Relativity good for in our life on Earth?
I would answer it now by: Ok so let’s switch off GPS and look what happens. Just as a thought experiment, please! GPS is based on General Relativity. Planes, ships, people who rely on their navigation system would need to go back and live without.
Balloons, bicycles, cars, planes, all crazy ideas of people in the 19th century.
In very early steps of science and exploration you can’t predict its economic impact.
What are ships good for? E.g. to discover America. Could this have been predicted in the early days of experimenting with sitting on something that swims?
What is Galois theory good for? You never heard of this? CRC checksums for data transmission are based on it.
Galois never ever could imagine this in the 19th century.
The science results obtained now will be the basis for people in the 22nd and 23rd century, as our basis are the science results of the 19th and 20th century.
You can’t predict what they’ll make of it. For us now it’s just curiosity, we want to know how things work, and what’s out there, outside our goldfish bow.
Gerald, generally we tend to agree, but I’m always a bit sceptical about the ‘spin out’, or ‘might come in useful eventually’ argument for astronomy and high energy physics etc.
The GPS argument is solid of course, but some others (non stick saucepans for example) are urban myths; and if you want better saucepans it’s probably better to research that, not go to the moon!.
To me it seems the likelyhood that Rosetta will produce results of direct, practical application is very small. It’s not like general relativity, or Galois theory, which are underlying principles.
It’s really about understand our Universe, being ‘intelligent’, and that’s why we do it. Sure if something useful comes out of it, great. But the danger of justifying it that way is people start wanting to see that from the start, saying failure if it doesn’t happen. Nothing will get funded unless ‘it will improve the share price’ so to speak.
Better the other way round; justify it as a pure drive for understanding, and be pleased if something falls out on the side.
Harvey, I fully agree from a purist point of view of science.
But there are people outside the science community, who don’t see the connection to their life.
As a well-known example let me mention, that the internet is a spin-off of CERN. It has nothing to do with particle physics, but is simply a consequence of the need of smart people to work together in an easy way.
I think it’s this kind of technological infrastructure, which leads to the most immediate effects for society.
But there are other important aspects, like international cooperation and motivation for young people to study science and technology. And of course the inspiring technological challenges.
https://home.web.cern.ch/topics/birth-web.
The benefit is what everyone makes of it.
Important science objectives are to find out more about the origin of our solar system, of water, of the building blocks of life. Is our biology unique, or is biology elsewhere in the universe to be expected to be fundamentally similar to that on Earth? How likely is life? Do comets provide answers to these questions?
Gerald
I’ve had the conversion on spin out etc many times.
Whenever I use ‘spin out’, I find myself in difficulty with astronomy, planetary etc investigations, high energy physics.
For most ‘lab science’, it’s an easy win; much of our modern world originated with curiosity driven lab science.
But ‘you spent all those billions going to the moon and all I got was a lousy non stick pan?’ 🙂
Or ‘well yes, hyperlinks originated at CERN, but they’d have been invented somewhere else soon enough, didn’t need billions on high energy physics for that…..’
And my difficulty is in all honesty they are pretty much right!
The actual cost even if missions like Rosetta is not that big as a proportion of national incomes. An oft quoted (but I’ve never checked it) comparison is that in the peak go-to-the-moon year spend, it was less than America spent on cosmetics!
Generally I find I can carry that argument quite readily with the ‘because that’s what humans do’ line, and I feel honest about it.
Spin out, serendipitous discovery etc, I never really feel comfortable arguing (and of course my conversational partner senses that.)
Harvey, I’ve had the same type of conversions about computers: “Computers are expensive, and I can neither eat them, nor wear them as clothes, hence they are useless.”
Regarding Apollo: The program pushed the development of transistor-based integrated circuits:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Guidance_Computer
One could have found it much easier, if one would have known of it in advance. That’s related to the “P versus NP problem” (Travelling Salesman) :
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P_versus_NP_problem
Finding a solution, a way through the labyrinth, is difficult, confirming it is usually simple.
We wouldn’t do without the challenges of ambitious goals, or at least in a much slower pace.
Why didn’t the Romans find non-stick pans, cell phones, or GPS navigation?
Why do we hear music? Why do we watch sport events? What are movies good for? Why do people work for money? You can’t eat it.
Why are we humans, and not salad?
Thanks, Harvey, for sharing your way of dealing with this kind of questions!
My two sons have the Rosetta mission shirts and we were just talking about the hope of this happening last week. Congratulations, very exciting, making news here in Australia
I’m really happy that Philea could wake up guys, let’s do all the experiments you can in the time you have left in order to obtaining the greatest insigth with the help of philea!!
Good luck and I hope you’ll Discover something really groundbraking.
You little bewdy!!
(That’s Australian for ‘Congratulations!’
Really a great news!! And it is not Sci-Fi … It is a true story.
Simply great.
Good Morning Philae !!!!
so..the chance of a bypasser seeing it discharged and charging it is minimal right? 🙂
In ESA found all Philea’s battery suddenny fully charges, would it release this information to the public?
What would happen if a Lunochod suddenly began to transmis again, his status reporting the isotope reactor fully charged?
🙂
¡Excelente!…
This is great news!
By the way, does Philae really talk? Just curious since it tweeted.
If so, that’s one cool AI. Whoever designed it, you guys sure have my respect.
Excellent news ! Way to go ESA
Bonjour Philae
We are coming to share a cup of coffee with you.
Congratulations to everybody in Darmstadt and Toulouse…and the other European guys of the team.
We are proud of your expertise.
This is a great achievement.
Merci et Bravo
Little one woke up!
Awesome!!!This is fantastic news!Congratulations and thumbs up for the team.We can do a lot more science than expected.I hope Philae is in a good condition.Now these two go together on the bumpy ride around the sun.This is great!I`m so happy.Science and emotion in a perfect mixture.I think it`s time to think about merchandise?Thank you for this great news:)))
Congratulations ! Excellent news! And Good Look from Argentine
Good morning little friend…. Long time no see
Definitely one of the most inspiring scientific efforts of our generation. Congratulations ESA!
EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with Philae on ‘The Tomorrow Show’ – the Late Night Talk Show for Science and Technology.
https://youtu.be/JwrhTW-vCYA
Congratulations to the entire team!
As was previously said, this is an Apollo moment. But unlike after the Apollo program, which was driven by more than just science, this program is pure science and is a truly great achievement for others to build on. This is doing serious science and engineering a long way from our planet. WOW!!!!
yaaaaaayyy, cheers
great job of technical integration, resource management, programming … just awesome….
oh, where can I order those rechargeable batteries…..
First, as everybody, I am amazed by thi results all scientists, engineers and technicians who work on every hardware and software must be so proud of this results. On behalf of all of the others, I say THANK YOU.
Wainting for more information from the team, could you remind us at what rate data is received on earth from Philae via Rosetta (i.e. how much data were received during this 40 seconds reception ) ?
Could you also tell us why type of data this is ?
Thanks for your answer.
Again, CONGRATULATIONS !!!
The data is mostly housekeeping: temperature, voltage, health status, timestamps, available memory, this kind of information.
Congratulations to the Rosetta team at ESA. Sincerely hope we’ll get lots of science from Philae.
Welcome back. Can’t wait to know what we still have to learn from these delayed data…
I heard it on the radio yesterday and am very glad as well. Just like the check box “I’m not a robot” at the bottom of the page to comment, I think everyone sees Philae as a something more than a robot, just like a sportsman everyone wants to encourage.
I think that the history and success of Philae (and Rosetta, we must not forget the one doing most of the difficult job) show that in such complex designs, what matters is not to anticipate every possibility, but to ensure that anything not anticipated becomes possible after some head scratching. Think about it : who would have imagined that a space probe, a robot and a comet would stay together for 7 months and that Rosetta would have to monitor her baby just like a mother watching her sick baby in bed!
Also don’t forget that these nice machines were designed and built in the early 2000, it gives a lot of hopes for even more advanced designs for future missions.
Congrats to the designers and to the operations team!
Willy
Welcome Philae! All of us, we were waiting for your wake up! Have a fantastic week
Fantastic achievement – even it no more contact could be established later on. It shows the robustness of the equipment and team.
Are there plans to change the orbit of Rosetta to increase the quality and duration of sessions with Philae?
A dream has come true here. The mission shows, what can be done.
Modyfing Rosetta’s orbit has been considered, but not immediately. Don’t ask me, in which of the many press articles this has been mentioned.
Grandiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii !!! vi adoro !
buon lavoro
The presence of man-made mass on the comet as well as orbiting the comet will affect the natural path of the comet. I’m curious to know if the deviation is being mapped and calculated for use in future scenarios when the path of killer comets need deflecting in order to avoid impact with Earth.
Rosetta and Philae are too small to cause a measurable effect to the orbit or behaviour of the comet.
Other missions have been designed to target this question.
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/asteroids/initiative/index.html
Please let us know as soon as ESA schedules an internet event for the media and public, and especially even a collection of intial video comments of the various team members, like I have seen of Monica Grady on BBC. Nothing like hearing their comments!
YOU BLOODY RIPPER! Well done ESA and team! 🙂
Go, Go, Go! Fantastic news! 🙂
Viva Philae!
This is so fantastic! It reads like a fairy tale 🙂
Congratulations and a big thank you to all involved!
Amazing news!! … mamma mia che bello! 🙂
This is terrific news! Cant wait for all the new data that will be collected!
Wellcome back, little Philae !!!
Expecting interesting scientific data in the next days. Congratulations ESA & Rosetta team !!!
Viva Philae !
Absolutely amazing achievement. Not bothered about the amount of power announced just so long as it’s working.
Congratulations to all people who are working on this fantastic adventure !!!
Dear all,
Many thanks for the kind messages! The Rosetta & Philae teams are working hard on analysing the data, and we hope to provide a follow-up blog post soon to answer your questions.
Thanks again!
Emily
Enhorabuena a ESA y al equipo de Philae. Nos sentimos muy orgullosos de ellos.
Anyone care to guess when Philae might make it’s next call home? I don’t know enough to be able to predict when Rosetta and Philae are next due to make contact – can anyone fill in the gaps? Thanks.
There is an opportunity roughly each 12.4 hours, as long as Rosetta takes much more than 1 rotational period of the comet to orbit the comet.
Congratulations and hugs to the teams!
I´m so happy and excited, about what will Philae will surprise us next!
Great news! I’m very excited about all the new data that Philae will be sending coming weeks
Good morning little chipmunk!!!
Hope you had a good winter sleep. Now rise and shine, and go collect us some “nuts”.
Big congrat for ESA and the Rosetta team!
I’m really excite to see what come out from the Philae data, let’s hope in something really interesting and maybe history changing.
PURA VIDA from Costa Rica.
Philae was here!
Buongiorno carissima Philae!! E ora… dopo una lunga dormita, sotto con gli esperimenti!!!!
Great news. Is it possible that the main issue now, will be staying in touch with the orbiter (or connecting as much as possible intermittently) ; the tragectory of the orbit of Rosetta has I think, to be pre-planned well in advance. Working out the engineering of this might be complicated by not knowing the exact location of Philae?
Bravo!!!!!!!
Yeah! That’s so great ! Congratulations to the team. I’m so thrilled! 😀
Wow!!!
I’m excited thinking all the good news from the deep space!!!
Best news from outer space 🙂
Congratulations ESA and best wishes to Philae!
And, of course, thanks to Emily and the ESA Rosetta Blog Team for getting this news out ASAP.
–Bill
Well done Philae! I think we all knew you had it in you.
Do you know where you’re at?
just great I’ve been waiting to hear that for months
Great news! Let’s hope for more data and that it can be manoeuvred into a better illuminated spot.
Well done ESA!!! You are my heroes. This is so amazing. I’m so happy Philae and Rosetta are back to business. Hope to hear more from these guys far, far away!!!!
Go Philae! Go Rosetta! Go ESA! Wish you luck!
It is clear that the forthcoming CONSERT data is going to be key in determining the precise makeup of the comet nucleus. Many of us place high hopes in it to explain once and for all the glaring discrepancy between the announced champagne-cork density of the comet nucleus and its undeniably rocky/rugged outer appearance
I’ve been thinking a bit more about how the CONSERT radar works (in my humble understanding of it). Does anyone know in what way and to what extent the current, roughly 200 km distance of Rosetta from the nucleus will affect the quality of future CONSERT data? The initial, incomplete, data was acquired from a distance of around 20 km, which is presumably the sort of distance the instrument was designed to work at. Will the quality of the radar signal be significantly reduced by this tenfold increase in distance?
It works similar to a CT scan, with all that complex math behind:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CT_scan
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaczmarz_method
https://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2014AGUFM.P41C3912C
Something electric universe people use to avoid.
About the 200 km: A good question. I don’t see a fundamental issue, but it’s a signal weakening of 20 dB relative to the model calculations of up to 10 cometary radii, if my limited understanding is correct. The effect will therefore probably be, that only a smaller part of the comet can be penetrated by a detectable or discernible signal. But since the actual absorption of the nucleus isn’t exactly known, the best you can do is to run a test.
Thomas
CONSERT does not use a straightforward pulse radar type system. It uses a long binary ‘code’ for which is calculates an autocorrelation function. The basic resolution is one bit of this code, and if signal to noise is good, you can do a fair bit better than that.
The answer is ambiguous by an integer times the total code length, but that won’t generally be a problem even at 200km, because the distance is easily accurately enough known so that you can choose the correct solution.
So it all comes down to the reduced signal to noise caused by the greater distance. I haven’t seen a figure for what the design distance was. If it was say 40km or so, a reasonable guess, we are five times further out, 25 times less power, 14dB.
That’s a pretty severe signal to noise penalty, but my *guess* would be decent chance it still works, but significantly reduced resolution.
There is also still an issue regarding whether CONSERT will work on full length paths through the comet. The initial data was quite short path. Remember attenuation is exponential; if say a given path attenuated by ten, then twice that path would attenuate a hundred fold, and might wipe you out. We have to wait and see if they can get right-through-the-middle data or not.
It’s likely to be a considerable wait I fear.
I noted in another post that neutral gas jets would be invisible to CONSERT.
Whether a plasma jet would be ‘visible’ depends on its plasma frequency relative to the CONSERT 90MHz. Unless it’s a very weakly ionised plasma, vaguely comparable to the earth’s ionosphere or a bit more, CONSERT would ‘see it’.
I hunted around.
The bit in the code is 100nS. That is 30m in free space, perhaps 20m in the comet depending on its dielectric constant. So this is the basic ‘scale’, but with good signal to noise you might get down to perhaps a couple of metres.
The code length is 25.5uS, 7.6km in free space, maybe 5.1km in the comet, and results are ambiguous to that extent. This ambiguity is easily fixed.
I searched the Web of Science and I cannot find a paper on the limited data they got, though there was a conference paper. However, the team must already know if there is a radical discrepancy with the density data.
@Thomas:
No the CONSERT data is kind of irrelevant. in terms of explaining the density. That has already been measured. All it will do is tell us how much of the nucleus is “hollow”. Nothing more, nothing less. The density is a done deal. Gravity has been determined, that gives us a mass, we know the volume, do the maths.
There is no explanation within the EU bible to explain this. It’s dead. It was dead 30 years ago, when we first directly detected H2O on a comet.
Horse a dead flogging. Rearrange those words into a sentence.
Ianw16. I did not intend to give the impression CONSERT is needed to confirm the density; we agree entirely on that (and your other remarks.)
CONSERT is our only way to really see inside the comet, give or take maybe some low resolution results from precision orbit analysis. The low density does raise questions about the internal structure, scale of the voids etc.
For that reason it find it especially interesting.
Oh well Thomas, I have some two year old freezer burned ice cream in my fridge that also looks a lot like rock with the consistency of a champagne cork.
But, I don’t need to cast doubts on future CONSERT data.
I just know it’s time to throw it out.
BTW Thomas, you should as they say be careful what you wish for 🙂
CONSERT uses 90MHz . If there is any plasma (aka discharge ….) in the way, it’s plasma frequency must lie well below 90MHz, or it will be completely opaque.
That sets an upper electron density limit of around 10^8/cm3 or so.
The usually quoted range of electron densities for a ‘discharge’ is around 10^7 to maybe 10^16 or even more.
So observation of CONSERT signals rules out anything other than extremely feeble ‘discharges’ in that path.
Remember this is effectively a log scale; 10^7 to 10^16 is a factor of 1000,000,000 of which all but the bottom factor ten is excluded; it leaves 0.00000001% of the range available……….
For comparison, the F layer of the ionosphere in which LEO satellites happily fly, is around 10^6 at mid day.
Bottom line; observation of CONSERT signals completely rules out anything other than very, very feeble ‘discharges’ on that path.
C’mon guys, there are millions of people excited and perhaps inspired by this news – but nothing since yesterday?? Can’t someone post news more often?
That is great news. I am looking forward more fantastic information from the comet. Good luck for the team!!
amazing news and on my Birthday, well done Rosetta team, keep us up to date. 🙂
Emily, given the epic proportions of the Philae saga.02, may I suggest that ESA does a daily status report at a certain time. Even a short “no news today” would be fine to keep my excitement under control till the next day!
Thanks, and congratulations to the Philae teams for their clever management of the uncertainties after battery rundown which has now been vindicated.
It’s good to hear from Philae, but where is it? All this time and Rosetta was unable to locate it? In those initial 60 hours or in this latest transmission wasn’t there some message sent about where Philae is?
Bagus.
Philae has no way to know where it is and transmit that to Rosetta. No ’67P-PS I fear 🙂 )
It’s location was derived from data on the ‘bounces’, and from data from an instrument called CONSERT which is, roughly, a sort of radar system.
Rosetta took a lot of pictures, but they couldn’t reliably spot Philae in the jumbled complex comet terrain.
It then became too dangerous to fly Rosetta in close due to increasing comet activity.
They may now be able to use CONSERT again to pin Philae’s location down better; knowing roughly where it is you could plan Rosetta orbits to give better accuracy.
“Rip Van Winkle” is awake!!!! I mean Philae.
Great news for the team all the rest of us.
Congratulations all around. What a great month it will be with data coming in from the comet and the approach to Pluto! I may be spending a lot of time on line.
– @JohnRMoffitt
Did Philae wake up again, after June 13th?
Greetings from Lithuania :))) ten stars event
Thats pretty awesome considering everyone thought that once the lander had shut down,it was down for good!! Kinda makes ya wonder who or what out there got the thing back on line!!haha just kidding! Nuce work!
Here are some interesting stats. It is whizzing through space at 70,321.23 (!) MPH. I did notice however that there seems to be a small variation in it’s speed from one second to the next. I suppose the gravitational pull may be affecting this, or who knows what. But interesting nonetheless. Now it is zooming through space, by our standards on earth of zooming, in space just crawling along, at 70,321.45. I really wonder what is causing the variations in it’s speed. There is no wind resistance, of course, in space, so my only answer is either gravitational pull, or a measuring instrument problem, or a combination of the two. It is, right at this moment, 132,524,100 miles from the sun, but this is changing rapidly. For example, it is now 132,523,400 miles from the sun. So, in just those few seconds, it travelled 700 miles (!). Just in the time it took me to type those words, it travelled 700 miles. Interesting. Space is so awesome. It is at this second 187,757,240 miles from the earth and closing rapidly. It is now 187,756,900 miles from the earth. In the brief time it took me to type those words, this comet travelled 340(!) miles. Isn’t that something else. And this is just nature, no technology, just God’s doing in the universe. This is so extraordinary to see in live numbers, it really is. It takes 16 minutes, 47 seconds for a signal to reach the unit, which is orbiting the comet. There are two units, one orbiting, and one on the surface. Rosetta is the name of the probe. It’s closest point to the sun at perihelion will be 186m kms.
I think Philae’s six month absence created a mystery that’s made all this even more exciting. Very clever.
I have this article”The day Philae landed” by Koen Geurts, Philae Lander, Technical Manager, DLR. Really good! https://room.eu.com/article/The_day_Philae_landed
This is really amazing! What an incredible piece of technology! After enduring months of cold and dark, after supporting energy crisis, this lander is still functional and has no damaged system. Fantastic! No other spacecraft came back to life after such a long time.
Hello Ana
Just a little friendly info.
Amsat Oscar 7 (AO-7) a hamradio satellite with various transponders, and telemetry beacons was launched in November 1974, it was oprational for 7 years before dying in 1981 when the batteries shorted out.
Forward 21 years to 2002 it came back from the dead.
The battery once shorted, are now open circuit and the solar pannels are powering the bird in sunlight. I use the bird every now and then.
Go Philae go. I hope the mission will score 100% mission goals.
OY1R
A comment on locating Philae from a local discussion. The question was can CONSERT help do this, to better accuracy?
Almost certainly yes,Mir Rosetta can fly ‘orbits’ chosen to do it.
These measurements would be in free space, not through the comet, with a line of sight to Philae. Although Rosetta is much further out, the absense of comet attenuation with partly or wholly compensate for the resulting loss of signal.
Each CONSERT measurement defines a sphere around Rosetta on which Philae must lie. At its most basic level, the sphere has an ~30m accuracy but with good signal to noise, helped by direct line of sight and no comet attenuation, could be as good as 3m perhaps.
Philae must also lie on the surface of 67P.
So with a good shape model you look for where the sphere and the surface coincide.
If you already know roughly where Philae is, you can position Rosetta to get a nice sharp intersection with the 67P surface, not a ‘grazing’ I case of near parallel surface and sphere,meh icy leads to bigger errors.
If you can arrange two or three such measurements with the different spheres (ie, different Rosetta positions) all intersecting at sharp angles, you can locate very well.
Bottom line; as they have a rough location, carefully chosen CONSERT passes would probably pin Philae down to a few meters, possibly even from the current 200km orbit. It will depend on a decision as to whether flying the required orbits is worth the time and fuel involved.
Way to go, congratulations!
Philae wake-up is a fantastic performance after nine months of very severe hibernation. High congratulations to designers and manufacturers of this brave little robot ! Let us hope it quickly will turn fully operational and give us lots of information about the comet behaviour when approaching the sun. At the other end of the Solar System, New Horizon is now very close to Pluto flyby. Both events promise us a very exciting summer… Many thanks to the teams managing these two missions !
Don’t mean to be a spoilsport! But something doesn’t seem to be right (as of early 19th Jun!)…
I dont read of additional contacts with Philae. Something should have happened by now! Or am I miss something?
Will Philae”s power increase exponentionaly as the comet approaches perihelion? Or is there a maximum wattage and a formula to get there so we can determine how long Philae might be able to download the remaining 8000 service packs?
Philae, oh Philae, you the next best if not the best thing next to a landing ppl to the Moon or on Mars! Congrats and good luck with your power supply and experiments.
Could you tell us about any surface temperature readings or gases being released from under your crafty little feet? Over…
Oh yes, I do, I try, if only someone could hear me.
https://isee3.p3s.nl/philae/
Keep it up Team Rosetta. We all look forward for path breaking discoveries. Pls update whether all 8000 packets are received?
I dared to hope. I dared to dream. I had everything crossed, even my toes. Have you ever tried walking with your toes crossed?
She’s ‘phoned in. Never mind that she went quiet on us and NEVER once told us ‘I was ok, I was getting a lift with a friend’!
Youngsters I dunno, you give them all your hopes and dreams and they go and do this to us!
I can relax now I know that Philae is safe, NOW I want to know just where the hell she is!
wonders will never ceased thanks for this great information it is wonderful.
That’s good new, I like it
So, here it is 30 July. Haven’t heard any updates. Will there be pics from Philae?
Fantásticas noticias, genial !!!!
great post
The discovery is quite thrilling, scientists are working round the clock for discoveries in the planet.
This is cool
I really appreciate all what you guys are doing keep on the good work