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Rosetta: Battery will limit life of Philae comet lander (Houston, We Have NO Sunshine!!!)
BBC News ^ | 11/13/14 | Jonathan Amos

Posted on 11/13/2014 4:56:14 PM PST by NormsRevenge

After a historic but awkward comet landing, the robot probe Philae is now stable and sending pictures - but there are concerns about its battery life.

The lander bounced twice, initially about 1km back out into space, before settling in the shadow of a cliff, 1km from its intended target site.

It may now be problematic to get enough sunlight to charge its battery systems.

--

The key issue vexing controllers right now is the lighting conditions.

Philae is receiving about 1.5 hours of illumination during every 12-hour rotation of the comet.

This will be insufficient to top up its battery system once the primary charge it had on leaving Rosetta runs out. That was some 60-plus hours.

It means Philae is unlikely to be operating in its present state beyond Saturday.

(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...


TOPICS: Astronomy; Chit/Chat; Science
KEYWORDS: battery; churyumovgerasimenko; comet; comet67p; nasa; philae; rosetta
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Philae got to the icy 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on the back of Esa's Rosetta satellite after a 10-year, 6.4 billion-km (4bn-mile) journey, which reached its climax on Wednesday with a seven-hour drop to the surface.

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Saturday is it!!!

It was a heckuva ride (10 Years, 4 billion miles) tho!!

Just missed it by a kilometer,, or we could have feasted for years on this baby.. wherever its headed.. hopefully, not at Earth. ;-]

1 posted on 11/13/2014 4:56:14 PM PST by NormsRevenge
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Please, No Diehard or Duracell jokes!!


2 posted on 11/13/2014 4:57:37 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Revolution is a'brewin!!!)
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Space is unforgiving.. Hit your mark or the mission may go dark.


Missed it by that much, Chief!

3 posted on 11/13/2014 4:59:38 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Revolution is a'brewin!!!)
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To: NormsRevenge; a fool in paradise; Morgana

Bill Withers sang about this situation.

“Ain’t No Sunshine”


4 posted on 11/13/2014 4:59:40 PM PST by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: NormsRevenge

Well, that was going to be my lead.
Anyway
Too bad they couldn’t have programed a sleep mode to counter that problem


5 posted on 11/13/2014 5:00:57 PM PST by Cold Heart
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To: NormsRevenge

Bounced 1km and came back down?

For some reason I find that interesting.


6 posted on 11/13/2014 5:07:41 PM PST by Gamecock (USA, Ret. 27 years.)
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To: NormsRevenge

Even a couple of relative small, partly elastic collisions can be a problem.


7 posted on 11/13/2014 5:09:39 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: NormsRevenge

Any landing you can bounce away from.........


8 posted on 11/13/2014 5:11:05 PM PST by Paladin2
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To: Cold Heart

Per the article:

It seems that speculation is it may be on its side or such as it apparently doesn’t have three feet on the ground so to speak..

Discussion is ongoing of how to either get it righted (not likely, no provisions for such were provided for, or they can try to reposition the panels as best they can if they can.

Until they get it righted, a drill onboard the craft for tapping into the surface is unuseable.

Where’s AAA when ya need ‘em?


9 posted on 11/13/2014 5:11:46 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Revolution is a'brewin!!!)
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To: NormsRevenge

Song dedication to Philae.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbqQL0J_Vr0

Cream - Sunshine Of Your Love lyrics (excerpt)

It’s gettin’ near dawn
When lights close their tired eyes
I’ll soon be with you my love
To give you my dawn surprise

I’ll be with you darling soon
I’ll be with you when the stars start falling
I’ve been waiting so long to be where I’m going
In the sunshine of your love


10 posted on 11/13/2014 5:12:00 PM PST by Redcitizen (.)
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To: NormsRevenge
Why is this photoshopped? There are at least two obviously blurred areas in this photo, on on the edge of the big rock, and one left-center. The photo is from the article with the heading "This picture was taken by the lander itself just 40m from its bumpy touchdown."


11 posted on 11/13/2014 5:12:35 PM PST by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: NormsRevenge
Time to point some searchlights at a comet. ;)

/johnny

12 posted on 11/13/2014 5:13:09 PM PST by JRandomFreeper (Gone Galt)
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To: Gamecock

Anchor hooks did not get a good grip on the first go.. or so a space bird told me. It’s the simple things that trip ya up.


13 posted on 11/13/2014 5:13:13 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Revolution is a'brewin!!!)
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To: NormsRevenge

Shoulda used nuke power rather than solar panels.


14 posted on 11/13/2014 5:15:22 PM PST by xp38
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To: NormsRevenge

They should have used an atomic battery like the one invented a hundred years ago by Henry Moseley. Photocell deposited on two glass plates, radioactive gas trapped between the plates. Moseley’s original batteries have been putting out a continuous electric current since 1912.


15 posted on 11/13/2014 5:36:48 PM PST by BuffaloJack (Muslim Creeping Conquest of America and Canada)
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To: NormsRevenge

And this was hailed as evidence of European space superiority just yesterday. This is not much different from the deliberate crash of a probe unto another comet not long ago.

Just getting it there and being able to snap a few pictures is a remarkable achievement, but it is not a giant leap for humanity.


16 posted on 11/13/2014 5:42:26 PM PST by cll (Serviam!)
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To: Gamecock

“Bounced 1km and came back down?”

The gravity on this thing might be so slight that you could possibly push off of it and achieve escape velocity, which would probably be bad.


17 posted on 11/13/2014 5:44:29 PM PST by The Antiyuppie ("When small men cast long shadows, then it is very late in the day.")
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To: NormsRevenge

Well then, ESA better fire those harpoons and not worry about further bouncing, cuz it don’t matter anymore.

Last chance to get into the sunshine for life extension.


18 posted on 11/13/2014 5:45:19 PM PST by G Larry (Amnesty imposes SLAVE WAGES on LEGAL immigrants & minorities)
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To: G Larry

Inflatable bags or hydraulic extension tubes, how heavy could this thing weigh now?


19 posted on 11/13/2014 5:50:05 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Revolution is a'brewin!!!)
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To: xp38

No
No
No.. no nukes in space yaknow.

might harm the atmosphere or radiate the populace it falls on if bad things happen at launch..

I hear ya tho.


20 posted on 11/13/2014 5:51:35 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Revolution is a'brewin!!!)
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