back to article Philae's either screening Rosetta's calls or isn't home

The Rosetta probe's attempts to determine if the Philae lander is alive have come to nought. The Rosetta mission departed Earth in 2004 and planned to reach Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko a decade later. That plan worked and the probe reached the comet then, as planned, send the Philae lander to 67P's surface. That plan also …

  1. Scott 26

    "Copy 67P" in the by-line? Come on Simon... ;)

    1. Simon Sharwood, Reg APAC Editor (Written by Reg staff)

      Yoinks! How did that happen. Scrubbed. Thanks for pointing it out.

      My only excuses are broken sleep and lack of coffee.

  2. Mark 85

    And when it answers...

    "I'm not dead. I'm sleeping. It was a long trip and bumpy landing. Now fetch me some coffee so I can wake up and go home... Oh... what do you mean "not?"

  3. Uncle Ron

    Not Good Writing:

    You said, "That plan also worked, mostly, save for Philae landing in a spot where its solar cells can't gather enough energy for it to do any work."

    And then you said, "Philae did manage to operate on battery power for 54 hours, which was enough time for it to put all ten of its onboard instruments to work and beam back lots of data."

    Aren't those two sentences absolutely CONTRADICTORY? It couldn't gather enough power to do any work, yet it worked for 54 hours, used ALL TEN of it's instruments and sent back LOTS of data.

    I don't like cynical writers who don't know what they're trying to say.

    Philae was an UNBELIEVABLE success. It didn't do EVERYTHING that was hoped for. It may yet. That's what I would say.

    1. Vladimir Plouzhnikov

      Re: Not Good Writing:

      You know the difference between solar cells and batteries, uncle, don't you?

    2. Simon Sharwood, Reg APAC Editor (Written by Reg staff)

      Re: Not Good Writing:

      Yes and no. Philae landed with fully-charged batteries. Those batteries depleted. It's not been able to recharge them since. I think that meaning is conveyed, but will tidy it up to make sure that is the case.

    3. the spectacularly refined chap

      Re: Not Good Writing:

      It is correct: the article doesn't say the probe couldn't do any work, just that it couldn't do that work from solar cells.

    4. Jimmy2Cows Silver badge

      @Uncle Ron: Reading comprehension

      My, aren't we tetchy.

      Seems like everyone else grasped the distinction. Perhaps try comprehending an article's content before firing off shouty comments?

      1. Pascal Monett Silver badge
        Coat

        Hey ! This is the internet. Where's the fun in that ?

  4. Matthew 17

    if the comet melts as it gets closer to the Sun...

    It'll leave little Philie on it's own to orbit the Sun, we'll have our first artificial comet then.

    1. Alan Brown Silver badge

      Re: if the comet melts as it gets closer to the Sun...

      That might happen in another 100,000 years.

      The comet only gets to about earth distance at perihelion. It's no sungrazer.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: if the comet melts as it gets closer to the Sun...

        > That might happen in another 100,000 years

        Actually it might happen rather sooner: recall that Churyumov–Gerasimenko has virtually no gravity and that the lander's harpoons failed to fire. So a spurt of gas caused by solar warming could easily push Rosetta off the surface into orbit around the Sun.

  5. dotdavid

    That plan also worked, mostly, save for Philae landing in a spot where its solar cells can't gather enough energy for it to do any work.

    That excuse doesn't work with my boss.

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    What if...

    What if li'l Philae doesn't reside on the comet any more? Perhaps is has been "blown" into space along with other material erupting from the comet's surface?

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