Philae has woken up!

Jun14

Ah, this is great news. The European Space Agency‘s lander on (deep breath) Comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko has woken from its sleep. It landed on the surface of the comet last November, launched from the space probe Rosetta, but bounced on landing after its anchoring mechanisms failed, and ended up in a deeply-shaded ditch. As its solar panels didn’t then receive enough sunlight to generate power, it went into hibernation after sending back a small amount of information. However, the comet has since moved closer to the sun and is receiving more sunlight, and as the scientists had hoped, Philae has started working again and is able to send messages back to earth, via Rosetta, which is still orbiting the comet.

The surface of the comet photographed from Philae during its descent.

The surface of the comet photographed by Philae during its descent.

Yay! So exciting! Lots of fantastic science experiments to come. Drilling! Analysing! Hurrah!

Happy birthday, Hubble

Apr24

Happy birthday to the Hubble Space Telescope, which today celebrates 25 years floating above us and sending back amazing images of space.

The HST was launched on board the Space Shuttle Discovery on 24 April 1990 and deployed into its orbit the following day. A flaw with the mirror was identified, leading to fuzzy images, but after a servicing mission the HST’s problem was corrected and it was soon sending back glorious, sharp images, the first of which were released by NASA on 13 January 1994.

The above video is an amazing visualisation made using data sent back by the HST of a fly through of nebula Gum 29, finishing at Star Cluster Westerlund 2.

Many years ago as a kid, I was so affected by the ending of the film Dark Star, where one of the characters ‘surfs’ on space debris. In the movie he goes down to his death, to burn up as he enters the atmosphere of a planet, but in my young imagination I always converted this to him surfing through space for eternity, seeing the wonders and marvels that at the time we could only dream of. Now, thanks to Hubble, those dreams are being magnificently realised.

Hubble Space Telescope 2014: Frontier Field Abell 2744. Photo by the magnificent, utterly wonderful NASA.

Once again, hurrah for NASA!

There’s a fantastic album of some of Hubble’s iconic images in this NASA-curated flickr album.

(As a space nut I love that Chap and I have been together just two days shy of Hubble’s time in space. Our first kiss was on 26 April 1990 and we have been kissing ever since.)

11 years on – Beagle 2 has landed!

Jan16

Earlier this week came the news that a joint NASA and UK Space Agency and Leicester University announcement about Beagle 2, the British-led Mars probe, would be made on Friday. I have been twitching all week—hoping so hard that the news would be good. And it is!

At last—Beagle 2 has been found! Such great news, courtesy of NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which sends back images of the planet’s surface from a height of between 250 and 316 km above Mars.

Beagle 2 on the Martian surface. Photo by HiRISE / NASA / Leicester University

The MRO scientists have been searching for it for years, and at long last they have found Beagle 2 at its Christmas Day 2003 landing spot at Isisdis Planitia. No message was ever received from the probe, and so it was assumed that it had crashed or somehow been destroyed or rendered unable to send back data. Its fate remained unknown.

Now we can see that Beagle 2 landed intact, and due to some of the solar panel-bearing ‘petals’ failing to unfold, it could not generate the energy needed to send back data.

Beagle 2 and landing equipment on Mars.

The lead scientist, Professor Colin Pillinger, sadly did not live to see this great day. He died last May, but is immortalised at a topographic feature on the surface of Mars: Pillinger Point.

Professor Colin Pillinger and a model of Beagle 2.

Professor Colin Pillinger and a life-size model of Beagle 2.

I wonder if the landing spot of Beagle 2 will be named after its most recent arrival?

(I should add that I bear no truck with talk of the Beagle 2 mission being a heroic failure. It was an incredibly difficult mission achieved on a miniscule budget, and it should be remembered how challenging a successful landing on Mars is—the success rate is 51%. So to have got so close to achieving the mission goals is to be celebrated. And as Prof. Pillinger himself said, in that wonderful, warm West Country accent of his—there are no failures, just experiences providing valuable data from which to learn and progress.)

Sleep tight, Philae

Nov18

Almost a week on from the excitement of Philae’s landing on Comet 67P/Churyumov—Gerasimenko, and the dust has settled, just about (damn low gravity on that there comet). What a rollercoaster ride. My live feed to ESA decided to cut out right at the very moment that the landing was confirmed, so I missed the punch-the-air happy moment, but it was still such a wow-wow-wow moment, learning of the touchdown via ESA’s twitter feed rather than seeing and hearing about it. So fantastic. And then came the delay in getting the photos of the comet’s surface that we had been promised not long after Philae had touched down. Something was up, but ESA wasn’t telling, for a while at least. Then came the news that the scientists thought the harpoons hadn’t secured Philae to the surface—we already knew that the booster that would help force the probe on to the surface wasn’t going to work—and it might have bounced.

Photo taken by Philae from about 40m above the surface of the comet, just prior to Phiale's landing.

Photo taken by Philae from about 40 metres above the surface of the comet, just prior to Philae’s landing.

ESA_Rosetta_OSIRIS-NAC_Landing_site_50km

X marks the spot: Philae’s initial landing place on the comet.

Philae's initial landing place on the comet, before the first of its tow bounces. She was right on target.

Philae’s initial landing place on the comet, before the first of its two bounces. In the right hand shot, Philae and its shadow can be seen on the surface.

The next morning came the news that it had indeed bounced – twice. The gravity is so low on the comet’s surface that the first bounce is thought to have been in the region of 1 km high.

Philae landing on the comet, taken from Rosetta.

Philae’s first bounce, taken from Rosetta.

Then came pictures of the surface. Staggering shots, the first ever showing a close up of the surface of a comet. But the scientists still didn’t know where exactly on the comet Philae was.

The fiorst image sent back by Philae from the surface of the comet. The lander's leg is in the bottom right corner.

The first image sent back by Philae from the surface of the comet. Part of the lander can be seen in the foreground.

Then came the news that Philae had landed with one of its legs up in the air, and in shadow for much of the time. Not good news for either its stability (needed for the scientific tests) or more importantly for its life – if it didn’t get sun, the solar panels would not be able to recharge the batteries and the probe would shut down.

Panoramic image series taken by Philae, with a sketch of the lander itself superimposed indicating its probable orientation.

Then Philae’s location was established. Time was running out, and the scientists decided to run the tests and hope that Philae would have enough power to get the results back to Rosetta, for it to send the data back to us. Success!

And then Philae ran out of power, and shut down.

In its journey around the sun, there may come a time when the sun falls on Philae and it awakens and can talk to us and hopefully perform more science tasks. Rosetta will be accompanying the comet on its travels, and so will be able to send messages to and from earth. There is a plan to land Rosetta on the comet when its useful life is done: a fitting grave, close to little Philae. Together they will wander through the solar system, on their long orbit around the sun. I love this thought. It reminds me a little of the ending of one of my favourite films, Dark Star.

So much amazing science, such a tremendous achievement, such a heart-stopping few days full of highs and lows. Wow, what a great, great week for science.

Update: organic molecules have been detected by Philae on the surface of the comet!

Philae has landed!

Nov12

So, so happy right now. Philae is safely down on the surface of the comet, “Its landing gear has been drawn back into the lander and it is sitting on the surface!” “It’s talking to us”.

Just waiting now for the first photos from the surface …

Such a massive, extraordinary achievement. I can’t say how proud I am of all the ESA scientists and engineers and others involved.

Shortly after parting from Rosetta, the lander Philae took a shot of its mothership, Rosetta, here seen above the sun flare.

Philae soon after separation, photographed from Rosetta.

Philae on its way, photographed from Rosetta.

Last shot of Philae from Rosetta.

Before today, humankind had landed spacecraft on only six other celestial bodies: the moon, Mars, Venus, Titan (one of Saturn’s moons) and two asteroids.* This is the seventh. An amazing, stunning, superb achievement. Congratulations.

* (in 2005 NASA’s Deep Impact mission intentionally crashed an impactor into comet Tempel 1 in order to study the resulting debris cloud; it doesn’t quite count as a ‘soft landing’, and no data was sent back from the surface of the comet).

Philae countdown begins

Nov11

The countdown for the release of the Philae probe from the Rosetta spacecraft, and its 7 hour journey down to the surface of comet Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, has begun. This is a historic and quite mind-boggling mission. Rosetta, the European Space Agency’s robotic spacecraft, spent the last 10 years travelling from earth to to rendezvous with the comet. It then spent a few months in orbit around the c. 6 km long comet, mapping its terrain to establish the likely safest landing place for Philae, the probe it is carrying.

But not for much longer! If all goes to plan, at around 8.35 am GMT/UTC tomorrow, Philae will separate from Rosetta and head off down to the surface of the comet. The descent will take some seven hours. Once it makes touchdown, it will secure itself to the icy surface of the comet using harpoons and screws. The signal that the mission has succeeded should be received back on earth at about 4.00 pm GMT/UTC the same day.

The targeted landing place on . Photo by ESA.

The targeted landing place for the Philae probe on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. Photo by ESA, taken from Rosetta.

The risks are great—Philae may not even touch down on the comet. It may make a bad landing and fall over, and it has no means of righting itself should this happen.

If it does succeed, it will then commence the varied scientific analyses it is equipped for. First and foremost, it will photograph its landing spot. This will be the first ever photograph taken on the surface of a comet. Amazing!

Jagged terrain on the comet. Not the landing spot!

More rough terrain on the comet. Also not the landing spot!

Much smoother terrain on the comet. Not the landing spot, but the sort of place that has been chosen, with fewer obstacles.

Much smoother terrain on the comet. Not the landing spot, but similar to the sort of place that has been chosen, with fewer obstacles.

The BBC has provided a schedule of tomorrow’s activities (all times in GMT/UTC):

Rosetta delivery manoeuvre – shortly after 06:00
Latest Go/No-go decision – before 07:35
Philae separates from Rosetta – 08:35
Confirmation signal at Earth of separation – 09:03
Rosetta’s post-delivery manoeuvre – 09:15
Radio connection established – 10:30
First data from descending Philae after 12:00
Landing of Philae on 67P – after 15:30
Confirmation signal at Earth – around 16:00

There is a much more detailed one at ESA’s website.

I will be watching and waiting with bated breath. The landing is being broadcast live by ESA: it can be viewed here, right now!

Rosetta and the comet

Oct31

From soft warm landing places for a cat to cold, hopefully not-too hard ones for scientific probes: Rosetta sent back this image on 26 October, taken from a distance of about 7.8 km from the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko by NAVCAM, its on-board navigation camera.

The surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, photographed from Rosetta. Photo by ESA, 26 October 2014.

The total area shown in this mosaic photo made up of four separate frames is approximately 1,200 metres x 1,350 metres. It shows part of the larger of the two lobes that make up the comet; the scientific probe Philae will be landing on the other, smaller lobe, but in a similarly ‘featureless’ area, if all goes well.

Philae’s landing is scheduled for Wednesday 12 November 2014. Philae will separate from Rosetta at 09.03 GMT; the descent will take some 7 hours. The signal confirming touchdown is expected to be received on earth at round about 16.00 GMT that day. I’ll be following it with bated breath.

Comet probe landing date set

Sep26

Clear your calendars! The date has been set—the NASA Philae landing probe from the European Space Agency Rosetta space satellite will attempt to land on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on Wednesday 12 November. With any luck the lander will successfully touch down at around 15:35 GMT, with confirmation due to arrive some time after 16.00 GMT.

Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Photo by Rosetta / ESA.

The landing site, known as ‘J’, has been carefully selected out of a shortlist of five potential sites. It is on the smaller of the comet’s two lobes (the head of the rubber duck).

Landing site J. Photo by Rosetta / ESA.

There is a high risk involved in such a tricky procedure. If successful, the lander will screw itself into position and then undertake some scientific analyses of the surface chemistry, drilling for samples and analysing them in an onboard laboratory. The scientists do not expect Philae to last much beyond next March as it will fail at some point due to overheating. Rosettta will stay in orbit for a year, sending back information as the comet moves in its elliptical orbit around the sun. Exciting (and nailbiting) times ahead. THE BBC article carries this caveat: The timings mentioned on this page carry some uncertainty and would change if subsequent mapping shows the J site to have a major problem, with Esa forced to shift its attention to the back-up destination, C.

Rosetta and the comet: watch live!

Aug5

Tomorrow the European Space Agency’s Rosetta robotic spacecraft will rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, some ten and a half years after the space probe was launched. In that time it has travelled 404,523,421 km (251,359,200 miles). It will be, according to the ESA’s website, ‘the first mission in history to rendezvous with a comet, escort it as it orbits the Sun, and deploy a lander to its surface.’

The whole event is being livestreamed, from 8.00 am GMT (9.00 am British Summer Time), here, as Rosetta is deployed into orbit around the comet.

I will certainly be watching this historic event. It has been so exciting watching as Rosetta approached the comet over the last month or so, from the first initial pixelated views that resolved themselves into the ‘rubber duck’. The scientists have to choose carefully where to place the lander on this slowly rotating chunk of space ice (water is a major volatile component of comets, along with carbon monoxide, methanol and ammonia.)

The comet pictured by Rosetta on 4 July 2014.

Rotating view of the comet captured by Rosetta on 14 July 2014.

The comet imaged from Rosetta on 1 August 2014.

The comet imaged from a distance of 1,000 km by Rosetta on 1 August 2014.

Once Rosetta is safely in orbit, it will begin to map and characterise the comet. Using the information it provides, a landing site will be selected for the lander.

According to the ESA website, the timeline is:

Comet mapping and characterisation (August 2014)

Less than 200 kilometres from the nucleus, images from Rosetta show the comet’s spin-axis orientation, angular velocity, major landmarks and other basic characteristics.

Eventually, the spacecraft is inserted into orbit around the nucleus at a distance of about 25 kilometres. Their relative speed is now down to a few centimetres per second.

The orbiter starts to map the nucleus in great detail. Eventually, five potential landing sites are selected for close observation.

Landing on the comet (November 2014)

Rosetta’s Philae lander on comet.

Once a suitable landing site is chosen, the lander is released from a height of about one kilometre. Touchdown takes place at walking speed — less than one metre per second.

Once it is anchored to the nucleus, the lander sends back high-resolution pictures and other information on the nature of the comet’s ices and organic crust.

The data are relayed to the orbiter, which stores them for transmission back to Earth at the next the period of contact with a ground station.

Rosetta and the comet.

So exciting. Can’t wait for tomorrow!

Pillinger Point

Jul1

Pillinger Point, overlooking Endeavour Crater, Mars.

I look at various NASA websites regularly, and one set of missions on which I’m particularly keen are those currently operating on Mars. Of the two indomitable Mars Exploration Rovers, launched in June and July 2003, and both landed in January 2004, and only supposed to have a mission life of 90 sols (a sol is a Martian day, just a tad longer than ours at 24 hours and 39 minutes), Opportunity is still going. And then of course there’s the amazing Curiosity rover, launched in November 2011 and landed on Mars in August 2012. I got up very early to watch the landing live on the NASA webstream, and it was so exciting, learning that it had landed successfully after the complex landing procedure that involved the never-before used sky crane. My heart was in my mouth for a goodly while—but I bet that was nothing compared to what the project scientists were experiencing. I have also taken part in the citizen science project to classify (tag) images sent back to earth by Opportunity and its now sadly non-operational partner, Spirit.

I think part of the reason I am fascinated by Mars is that it is a desert planet, and I love deserts. Many of the photos in the Tag Mars citizen science project show a beautiful, desolate landscape, though occasionally you can see a dust devil caught as it passed by, or see the ripples of sand cut through by the rovers’ tracks. They could easily be the deserts in which I have worked in the Middle East. So familiar, and yet so other-worldly.

I checked recently on the progress of Curiosity and saw on 24 June it had taken a photo from a spot named Pillinger Point, overlooking Endeavour Crater. The brief text mentioned it was named after Professor Colin Pillinger, who died in May this year.

Professor Colin Pillinger (9 May 1943—7 May 2014).

Colin Pillinger was a British planetary scientist and one of the driving forces behind the Beagle 2 mission to Mars. Sadly that mission was not a success. Like Spirit, it too was launched in June 2003, but although it was deployed from the ‘mother ship’ for landing on Christmas Day 2003, communication was lost, and with it, the mission. I remember seeing footage of Professor Pillinger announcing that Beagle 2 was lost, and how absolutely destroyed he seemed. All those years of hard work, all that hope, all that potential for science, lost in a few moments.

Today there is a lovely piece on the BBC website about this photo and the naming of a topographic feature on Mars after Prof. Pillinger. It is written by Steve Squyres of NASA, who worked on the Spirit and Opportunity rovers and became a good friend of Prof. Pillinger’s. It’s a very touching tribute.

(Ahoy there mateys: I love too that Beagle 2 was named after the vessel, HMS Beagle, on which Charles Darwin conducted his historic and world-changing research; Endeavour Crater is named after the bark, HMS Endeavour, on which Captain Cook undertook his voyage of discovery to the southern hemisphere.)

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