Many relieved scientists, no doubt!

My wife and I got so into that little lander's mission. It was such a monumental achievement. Then it, sadly, went on hiatus. But this is terrific!

It hasn't been picked up by phys.org yet, which is my gold standard of "probably not bullshit."

But if it has actually happened and ESA is getting data back, then that mission just massively increased the amount of Science points it will be awarded in Kerbal Space Program.

DSCOVR just reached L1:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1016124243

Juno reaches Jupiter next year on July 4, 2016:
http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/NASAs_Juno_Spacecraft_on_Its_Way_to_Unveil_Jupiters_Mysteries_999.html

I pretty much gave up on that based on where and now it landed on the comet. Let's just hope that some unmapped piece of rock or debris doesn't impact with the comet.

Here, a previous DU post about that.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1228&pid=39502

Also, as in my response in that thread, Universe Today covered that particular story.
Have We Found Rosetta's Lost Philae Lander? There are plenty of pics at the link a couple of which I included in the DU thread above. Reproduced here.

The five candidates, all but the upper left were rejected.


The smoking gun:

The October 22 image was before Philae landed.

Is this Philae?

Expanding our knowledge...expanding our universe...

Wait until Faux news gets hold of this!



Great news from a science buff!

I know, right! And now the thing just woke up so it could get some sun?! Hello? Not everyone has time to get a tan. Some of us have work.

They catch the light, but I don't think they're enough to budge the lander, unless it was incredibly finely balanced.

Yes, there was some luck. But it is good engineering that created the autonomous system that collects such power as it is able and calls home. Good engineering foresight that things can go wrong and to plan for such events.

Why can't we spend more of OUR money on stuff like this rather than war-making?

I think NASA is doing fine.

Comet-Lander "Philae" Wakes Up and Phones Home

The historic space probe has sent signals to Earth, ending seven months of silence

By Celeste Biever, Elizabeth Gibney and Nature magazine | June 14, 2015

Philae, the space probe that made history when it landed on a comet in November 2014, is awake. The European Space Agency (ESA) announced today (June 14) that it had received signals from the comet lander last night, at 22:28 Central European Standard Time. They were the first in over seven months.

Excited scientists on the mission told Nature that Philae has probably been awake for a few days and that they hope the lander will start some low-risk science activities in the coming days—assuming that Philae makes contact again.

"Philae is doing very well: It has an operating temperature of -35ºC and has 24 Watts available," said ESA project manager Stephan Ulamec of the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) near Cologne, according to an ESA statement. "The lander is ready for operations."

ESA says that for 85 seconds Philae “spoke” with ESA ground control via the spacecraft Rosetta, which is orbiting 67P.

More:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/comet-lander-philae-wakes-up-and-phones-home/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+sciam%2Fspace+%28Topic%3A+Space%29

We are going to learn a lot!