Tuesday 16 June 2015

More News About Philae

NATURE posted this just a few minutes ago
There is now Wed June 17 a "live" replay of Rosetta press conference  1hour 27min 30sec long

The comet is now a very different environment from when Philae landed, with a much stronger outpouring of gas and dust. For Philae, the change of seasons is double-edged: there will be more particles in the atmosphere for the lander to ‘sniff’, says Ulamec, but the particles pose a danger to Rosetta’s navigation systems, and will continue to intensify until August, when the comet will be closest to the Sun. To avoid damage, Rosetta might need to retreat to such a distance that it would no longer be able to communicate with Philae on the surface. But once the comet rounds the Sun in September, Rosetta could come back in closer and let Philae phone home again.
quoting NATURE

For a  summary of the problems  from May 7 2015

No comments:

Post a Comment