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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

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To: The Antiyuppie

That’s what I’ve been reading.


21 posted on 11/13/2014 5:54:10 PM PST by Gamecock (USA, Ret. 27 years.)
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To: Talisker
Why is this photoshopped?

This is terra incognito, don't forget, so I don't think any such thing is obvious. It's a 1/10000 g environment, for starters. That whole area below the big rock has the same sort of blurry appearance.

I will agree these Euros are kind of a dodgy lot. Who besides me heard the big honcho announce, in the middle of the celebration, that the harpoon had fired and "recoiled" or something? I'm sure the technos new better, but just deferred to him.

22 posted on 11/13/2014 6:02:51 PM PST by dr_lew
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To: Gamecock

It’s weight with respect to the comet is about a gram, and it was designed apparently to utilize that tiny gravitational tug to land and sink grapples.


23 posted on 11/13/2014 6:05:29 PM PST by Axenolith (Government blows, and that which governs least, blows least...)
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To: NormsRevenge

PICTURES FROM THE COMET. BUT WHERE'S THE KABOOOM.

24 posted on 11/13/2014 6:06:02 PM PST by seawolf101
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To: xp38

Nuclear power is the obvious solution for spacecraft ;solar panels are fragile and the inverse square law rapidly reduces available power as you get farther out.

Crazed non-scientific enviro-terrorists have cost us trillions of dollars and millions of lives made poorer or even cut short..


25 posted on 11/13/2014 6:06:54 PM PST by hoosierham (Freedom isn't free)
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To: Axenolith

But generating enough “bounce” to take jump 1km and then having enough enough gravity exerted to come back down is something I can’t get my mind around.

Of course my degrees are focused more towards the life sciences, not physics.


26 posted on 11/13/2014 6:10:49 PM PST by Gamecock (USA, Ret. 27 years.)
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To: NormsRevenge

With the limited gravity on that rock, it weighs less than an ounce.

220 lbs on earth, as is.

Ya, I think they lacked some imagination when it comes to contingency planning.


27 posted on 11/13/2014 6:13:26 PM PST by G Larry (Amnesty imposes SLAVE WAGES on LEGAL immigrants & minorities)
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To: hoosierham
If only this had been available


28 posted on 11/13/2014 6:13:44 PM PST by xp38
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To: G Larry

Esa would have never been able to pull off a mars landing. The whole landing mechanism failed. Now i will give them stuff happens to mechanical systems a decade in space. Hitting the comet is not hard.


29 posted on 11/13/2014 6:23:25 PM PST by rlbedfor
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To: xp38
Shoulda used nuke power rather than solar panels.

Probably wasn't politically correct.

30 posted on 11/13/2014 6:23:57 PM PST by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue...)
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To: seawolf101
PICTURES FROM THE COMET. BUT WHERE'S THE KABOOOM.

OOOOH! The Q32 Explosive Space Modulator. like the Space Harpoons, has failed to operate!

31 posted on 11/13/2014 6:29:31 PM PST by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue...)
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To: The Antiyuppie

I read somewhere today that firing the harpoons to bounce it to another location was something they were considering as a last resort. There apparently is another instrument — a scoop or something — that could be used in a similar way.


32 posted on 11/13/2014 6:33:16 PM PST by Yardstick
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To: NormsRevenge
Heh. Big trouble in little Philae....shoulda consulted folks at Ford. GO USA!


33 posted on 11/13/2014 6:37:48 PM PST by Daffynition ("We Are Not Descended From Fearful Men")
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To: rlbedfor

I’m trying not to be too critical at the moment.

We launch our Orion EFT-1 in 3 weeks.


34 posted on 11/13/2014 6:38:11 PM PST by G Larry (Amnesty imposes SLAVE WAGES on LEGAL immigrants & minorities)
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To: Axenolith
It’s weight with respect to the comet is about a gram, and it was designed apparently to utilize that tiny gravitational tug to land and sink grapples.


One of these mounted on each foot with a radio controlled trigger (we could call the trigger a mouse), would be sufficient to jump the lander off the comet and let it relocate. After all on comets it's location, location, location.

35 posted on 11/13/2014 6:38:30 PM PST by Swordmaker (This tag line is a Microsoft insult free zone... but if the insults to Mac users continue...)
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To: Daffynition

Wasn’t the Ford Probe a Japanese Mazda?


36 posted on 11/13/2014 6:39:07 PM PST by nascarnation (Impeach, Convict, Deport)
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To: dr_lew
I will agree these Euros are kind of a dodgy lot. Who besides me heard the big honcho announce, in the middle of the celebration, that the harpoon had fired and "recoiled" or something? I'm sure the technos new better, but just deferred to him.

All of space science is dodgy as hell. Check this article out:

The Recurring Odd Shape Of Comets

37 posted on 11/13/2014 6:42:42 PM PST by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: dr_lew

One honcho at todays press briefing mentioned that the retractor reels activated even though the harpoon darts didn’t fire. Maybe he was trying to clarify what you heard him say yesterday? Keep in mind that they theorize that a comet is made of ice, so I am sure the harpoon anchors were designed to embed in ice. Suppose a comet is rock. I think that if you tried to fire ice-harpoons into solid rock you might just knock yourself a half-mile or so away from the comet. Should we be buying this half-mile high bounce explanation (from a meter per second speed on impact of an object weighing a gram)?


38 posted on 11/13/2014 7:00:33 PM PST by HandyDandy (Don't make-up stuff. It just wastes everybody's time.)
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To: HandyDandy
(from a meter per second speed on impact of an object weighing a gram)?

The mass of the lander is given as 100 kg. At 10-4 g that is 10 gram-mass units of "weight" on earth. In a constant g-field of this strength, the height of a 1 m/sec launch is 1/2 g t2 = 1/2 v2 / g = 500 meters . It should have rebounded less than this, as the landing was "damped", but I think the 1 km value was supposed to be a lateral distance, so it's of the right order.

39 posted on 11/13/2014 7:20:42 PM PST by dr_lew
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To: Talisker

Could it be corrupted data or even a dirty lens?


40 posted on 11/13/2014 7:32:24 PM PST by Fire_on_High (RIP City of Heroes and Paragon Studios, victim of the Obamaconomy.)
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