[Swordmaker]

The lander touched down right where they wanted it to. All it had to do was stay there, which in this case was a nontrivial objective. They were banking on the harpoons, and that didn't work out. There's gotta be an "I told you so" faction on the team! ... unless they got rid of them already ... it's been ten years, after all.

LOL! I am wondering how much of the lander's control electronics—such as the harpoon triggers and the nitrogen thruster controls—were fried in the electrical discharges between the comet and the lander as the potentials were attempting to be balanced as the lander approached. There were comments about contact and electrical issues as Philae approached 67P.

In the split second just before the Deep Impact mission 880 Lb. copper projectile impacted Comet Tempel 1 at 22,000 MPH, there was an intense double flash of lightning as huge electrical potentials exchanged between the comet and the impactor and blew out all the sensors on that probe.

[dr_lew]

In the split second just before the Deep Impact mission 880 Lb. copper projectile impacted Comet Tempel 1 at 22,000 MPH, there was an intense double flash of lightning as huge electrical potentials exchanged between the comet and the impactor and blew out all the sensors on that probe.

Ah yes. My difficulty is in understanding how such large potential differences could be maintained in the environment of the solar wind. I would be interested in your explanation.