Excellent discussion of Rosetta mission problems…
I hope this does not come true.
A cliff hanger descended over the Rosetta space mission as fate casts a shadow when an attempt at landing went fatally awry.
It turns out that fragile and complex technology was used instead of robust tried and tested nuclear plant. Fault intolerance.
The solar cells in Rosetta’s solar panels are based on a completely new technology, so-called Low-intensity Low Temperature Cells. Thanks to them, Rosetta is the first space mission to journey beyond the main asteroid belt relying solely on solar cells for power generation. Previous deep-space missions used nuclear RTGs (Radio isotope thermal generators). The new solar cells allow Rosetta to operate over 800 million kilometres from the Sun, where levels of sunlight are only 4% those on Earth.
— http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Rosetta/Frequently_asked_questions
But they forgot the possibility of or ignored an unknown environment might have cliffhangers waiting. It has landed in shadow.
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Alan Olee Book Report 
Cruise over to Tallblokes Talkshop because he’s a sharp guy with a lot of sharp friends. Yes he’s English – but he’s cool!
Anyhow, they are bagging pretty heavy (and IMHO rightly so..) on the decision to use all solar panel power on the lander instead of the far more conservative and reliable nuclear battery which is pretty much standard practice on any deep-space mission. Just stupid to have lost their lander after achieving what they did.
We’ll have a complete highly technical follow up late in the weekend – if Philae does indeed die, we will have an appropriately solemn eulogy.
But don’t give up hope just yet…that little techno-toy is still alive and he’s sending various readings back to the mother-ship – he’s not dead; just starving to death for juice.
God I hope they figure something out!
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http://mashable.com/2014/11/12/rosetta-comet-song/#:eyJzIjoiZiIsImkiOiJfZWNxc2x6ODlyc293ZXIxNiJ9 At least they recorded some cool Comet Music before little Philae pooped out!!
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Oh I guess Rosetta recorded the music, not Philae….thanks Rosetta!!
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annissao,
Thanks for the link! I listened to the weird comet song… bizarre. I wonder if the frequency of the recording, you know those clicking sounds, are an artifact of the signal processing, or if they are an actual component of the sound – they sounded pretty consistent frequency-wise. So if that frequency is from the comet, the something that is generated the sound is like a vibration or something else repetitive / cyclical.
Oh. Also your link had some helpful ads – here’s one:
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My God it’s free. What could go wrong?
And this informative little tidbit about one of our important Basketball celebrities:
“From NBA Lottery Pick to Heroin Addict, Arrested with Grenade Launcher”
I added the comma, otherwise the headline made little sense. Still doesn’t make much sense…
There is just so much to learn on the internet!
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