Osiris Spots Philae Drifting Across Comet 67P/C

What's going on with the hop distances and time gap ?

I could not follow the link you provided. [Maybe you swamped their server.] I'm not sure which link you intended but here is a another article. Ironically what makes the final resting site so noticeable is what is limiting the recharge rate.

Thanks. The link is working for me but that's not saying much. Half the time I can't open anything but CR4's Home page when everyone else is having no problem at all, so who knows? I don't.

Back to Philea: that sharp right turn is interesting. My guess is that one of the feet snagged on an outcropping or a rock, swinging Philea around to its new direction. It would take Philea's momentum to do that. Philea also seems to have been cartwheeling during this phase which might explain the outlying depression in that new cluster.

Speaking of depressions, that's either thick dust on the surface or the bulk is spongey. Both scenarious would not be at all surprising given the composition of comets, of being 'dirty snowballs', perhaps much of it methane ice rather than water ice. Water ice is structurally much stronger than methane ice. Like solid nitrogen methane ice is weak and brittle and probably highly porous due to previous outgassing. If it were my guess, I'd say it probably has the consistency of those greenish styrofoam (or whatever it is) blocks that they stick flowers in? Not very strong; you can mash it with your finger.

This is totally awesome. Kudos to the ESA!

Well if nothing else it looks tucked away in a safe spot for a long ride anyway. Would be nice to get more juice on board and keep sending signals until this time next year.

It's probably going to get a bad case of sunburn by next August. Not sure what the 'end-game' is - perhaps Philae will get chucked off the comet by by blasts of gas or whatever. Anybody know what will happen ?

That's my guess. In 67P/C's gravity Philea weighs less than a gram? Even with Philea harpooned to the comet, its future isn't bright. 67P/C's volatiles will outgas until nothing's left of the comet but a blob of gravel. If Philea sticks around that rolling mill for long there won't be much left of Philea but high-tech glitter.

Does a similar fate await Rosetta ?

I saw a PBS show on Rosetta and Philea last night that was fascinating and informative. You should look for and watch this show. I expect PBS to rebroadcast this.

Reading between the lines, there is a chance that Philae might both come back to life and not be ejected when 67P/C becomes more active. That's right 67P/C was already ejecting material when Rosetta was approaching it between Jupiter and Mars. The most active region is the middle region that is thinner than the rest. This is one of the reasons why they choose to land on one of the ends of the comet. In the documentary they showed parts of the conference where they discussed the merits of the six landing sites they considered once they got close. They did not want to try and fall across observed plume paths.

Also this is not the first hibernation cycle this program has been through. For more than a year this probe and lander were hibernating on their way to this comet. The primary mission of Philae has been accomplished. I've yet to hear what they found in that core sample analysis. Any other following data that this team are able to collect will be extra icing and ice cream to this delicious dessert.

e2, thanks for the interesting pictures and article.