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Flawed Philae Landing Still a Rousing Success

Posted December 19, 2014 12:00 AM by Engineering360 eNewsletter

It only lasted for a couple of days, instead of the hoped-for six weeks, but the Philae lander from the Rosetta spacecraft still provided ground-breaking insights into comet science. The landing experienced several glitches: the lander bounced twice and settled in a less than optimal spot and the harpoons designed to secure the lander in place never fired. Shaded from solar power, Philae only transmitted data for 60 hours before the batteries ran out. However, the data it sent included measurements of the comet's magnetic field and indications of the detection of organic molecules.

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dkwarner
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Placerville, CA (38° 45N, 120° 47'W)
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#1

Re: Flawed Philae Landing Still a Rousing Success

12/20/2014 6:25 PM

Since the lander bounced around a kilometer after first impact, it must have struck a relatively hard surface. I suspect that they were lucky that the harpoons didn't fire. If the harpoons had fired on such a hard surface, I believe that extra energy just might have given the rebounding lander a velocity above escape velocity, so instead of returning to the comet a kilometer away, it would just have gone flying off into space, and the only data collected would have been that which was gathered during the initial impact.

Any comments?

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cuba_pete
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#2
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Re: Flawed Philae Landing Still a Rousing Success

12/26/2014 12:54 AM

That's what a Forbes writer thinks.
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dkwarner
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Join Date: May 2006
Location: Placerville, CA (38° 45N, 120° 47'W)
Posts: 6215
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#3
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Re: Flawed Philae Landing Still a Rousing Success

12/26/2014 1:11 AM

Thanks for the link! That's the first time I've seen it in someone else's writing.

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