Chevrolet Corvette Stingray C7 Forum - View Single Post - Overflow's Great Thread of NASA Knowledge

Overflow · 11-13-2014, 05:27 PM

ESA gets a huge pat on the back from me. What they did was no easy feat and they made history with that probe.

However, like SIM Curly said, it's obvious that there's still some work to do for ESA. As this probe will most likely die in a few days and become nothing but metal on a comet.

For those who don't know, the Philae probe did not land at all where ESA had planned. The harpoons and ice screws in Philae's landing gear malfunctioned and did not deploy when Philae touched the planned landing spot. Because of this, Philae bounced and drifted for two hours. Then Philae tried to land again. Unfortunately, its landing gear malfuntioned again causing Philae to bounce and drift for another 7 minutes.

After 7 minutes, two of it's landing legs managed to finally grab the ground and Philae landed in a location on the comet only known as "B". Unfortunately, Philae's final location is in the permanent shadow of a cliff. Philae's battery can only last 64 hours on it's own internal power without having to recharge using it's solar panels. As we know, Philae's in a permanent shadow. Therefore there is no way it can absorb enough power to recharge.

Philae has 10 experiments it was tasked to complete. Which included drilling into the surface of the comet. However, data suggests that Philae is only anchored to the surface of the comet with two of its legs and that its third leg is not even touching the surface of the comets. Because of this, ESA is too scared to drill into the surface in fear that the drill will cause the probe to tip and fall onto it's side.

This is rocket science. And it's not easy. Obviously not a good day for ESA, but there's always tomorrow. Especially for such a small space program.

11-13-2014, 05:27 PM	#1839
Overflow Space Shuttle Aficionado Drives: 2016 Camaro 2SS Join Date: Jun 2010 Location: Tampa, FL Posts: 30,897 View My Garage	ESA gets a huge pat on the back from me. What they did was no easy feat and they made history with that probe. However, like SIM Curly said, it's obvious that there's still some work to do for ESA. As this probe will most likely die in a few days and become nothing but metal on a comet. For those who don't know, the Philae probe did not land at all where ESA had planned. The harpoons and ice screws in Philae's landing gear malfunctioned and did not deploy when Philae touched the planned landing spot. Because of this, Philae bounced and drifted for two hours. Then Philae tried to land again. Unfortunately, its landing gear malfuntioned again causing Philae to bounce and drift for another 7 minutes. After 7 minutes, two of it's landing legs managed to finally grab the ground and Philae landed in a location on the comet only known as "B". Unfortunately, Philae's final location is in the permanent shadow of a cliff. Philae's battery can only last 64 hours on it's own internal power without having to recharge using it's solar panels. As we know, Philae's in a permanent shadow. Therefore there is no way it can absorb enough power to recharge. Philae has 10 experiments it was tasked to complete. Which included drilling into the surface of the comet. However, data suggests that Philae is only anchored to the surface of the comet with two of its legs and that its third leg is not even touching the surface of the comets. Because of this, ESA is too scared to drill into the surface in fear that the drill will cause the probe to tip and fall onto it's side. This is rocket science. And it's not easy. Obviously not a good day for ESA, but there's always tomorrow. Especially for such a small space program.