[ Position ]
Alternative idea they're tossing around apparently is to rotate the lander until the larger Panel 1 instead of Panel 2 gets sun. Lander Control Center suspects there's a shadow cast on Panel 2, which is why while it's getting sun, it's getting a pretty low amount. According to Ulamec they're also thinking about spinning up the flywheel if they have any energy remaining tomorrow. This would impart enough impulse to move Philae somewhere else.
Rosetta has adapted its orbits to optimize communications with Philae in its new position. Next communications link around 11 pm CET tonight, possibly the last.
[ Science ]
- During the current communications outage Philae is drilling with SD2. Lander is at near-maximum off the ground, so SD2 has some way to go to hit the ground in the first place. Ground contact occured two hours ago before Rosetta moved behind horizon.
- ESA basically won't run PTOLEMY due to energy saving measures. COSAC takes near-identical data more specific to the other data taken, and requires less energy than PTOLEMY. SD2 will therefore only provide the samples drilled from the ground to COSAC. PTOLEMY is the only British-led instrument onboard.
- MUPUS sensor has been deployed into the ground. Temperature above ground is around 120 K.
[ Location ]
There's also some internal controversy about where Philae is. Holger Sierks, the head of the OSIRIS team, thinks Philae moved basically in the opposite direction from the one presented earlier. They're currently downloading 84 OSIRIS pictures from Rosetta taken during the descent and at the time of the bounces. Sierks thinks they'll probably have pictures in that set of both Philae going back into space after the first bounce, and of the second bounce. Cross-checking this with (more numerous) NAVCAM pictures and the CONSERT radio sounding data for the time of the landing should give them a direction to look in. OSIRIS took 1x1 km pictures centered on Agilkia, so the actual final landing site is rather likely outside that scope; having a direction tells them where to point OSIRIS next in the search of course.
Alternative idea they're tossing around apparently is to rotate the lander until the larger Panel 1 instead of Panel 2 gets sun. Lander Control Center suspects there's a shadow cast on Panel 2, which is why while it's getting sun, it's getting a pretty low amount. According to Ulamec they're also thinking about spinning up the flywheel if they have any energy remaining tomorrow. This would impart enough impulse to move Philae somewhere else.
Rosetta has adapted its orbits to optimize communications with Philae in its new position. Next communications link around 11 pm CET tonight, possibly the last.
[ Science ]
- During the current communications outage Philae is drilling with SD2. Lander is at near-maximum off the ground, so SD2 has some way to go to hit the ground in the first place. Ground contact occured two hours ago before Rosetta moved behind horizon.
- ESA basically won't run PTOLEMY due to energy saving measures. COSAC takes near-identical data more specific to the other data taken, and requires less energy than PTOLEMY. SD2 will therefore only provide the samples drilled from the ground to COSAC. PTOLEMY is the only British-led instrument onboard.
- MUPUS sensor has been deployed into the ground. Temperature above ground is around 120 K.
[ Location ]
There's also some internal controversy about where Philae is. Holger Sierks, the head of the OSIRIS team, thinks Philae moved basically in the opposite direction from the one presented earlier. They're currently downloading 84 OSIRIS pictures from Rosetta taken during the descent and at the time of the bounces. Sierks thinks they'll probably have pictures in that set of both Philae going back into space after the first bounce, and of the second bounce. Cross-checking this with (more numerous) NAVCAM pictures and the CONSERT radio sounding data for the time of the landing should give them a direction to look in. OSIRIS took 1x1 km pictures centered on Agilkia, so the actual final landing site is rather likely outside that scope; having a direction tells them where to point OSIRIS next in the search of course.
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