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Philae's first image from the comet's surface

11/13/2014

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Picture
Philae's first image form the final landing site.
Rosetta landing mission update 13.10 UT Thursday 13 November: a (rather confusing) image taken by the Philae lander from the surface of Comet 67P. The end of one of the 3 landing legs can be seen in the foreground. Current analysis suggests that Philae landed at 15.33 UT yesterday but then bounced to an undetermined height (100s of metres?) before landing again at 17.26 UT nearly 2 hours later. It then bounced again before settling a few minutes later at 17.33 UT. As far as I know, it is still not anchored. Also I don't think its precise position on the surface is yet known - the comet will have rotated while the lander was 'airborne' for 2 hours after the first bounce, so it will not be anywhere near the first touchdown site. I think there is a degree of confusion, which will hopefully be resolved soon. Despite this however, still an amazing achievement!
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    Graham Swinerd - I hope to use this page to highlight current major events in space and spacececraft.

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