Spacecraft lands on comet

[Apostrophe Spacemonkey]

At 4am this morning NZ time, the ESA Philae lander made touch down on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.

After spending 10 years attached the Rosetta spacecraft, the lander detach and descended towards the surface of the comet over 7 hours, making the first lander ever on a comet.

The comet has barley any gravity, so on touch down, the lander will shoot harpoons into the ground to attached the lander to the surface.



http://www.space.com/27740-rosetta-comet-landing-success.html

Question: How do I make the picture bigger on these forums?

[Apostrophe Spacemonkey]

So this happened, if anyone was interested.

[The Demon Lord]

I do that all the time....






in KSP

[Apostrophe Spacemonkey]

Seven months ago, the Philae lander successfully touched down on 67P, however it's harpoon failed to fire, and the lander bounced around on the suface before coming to a rest in an unknown location.

It new location was less then ideal for its solar panels, and 60 hours later the lander shut down because it couldn't get enough sunlight to charge it's batteries.


But now that the comet is much closer to the sun, the lander has managed to recharge its batteries, and amazingly, after 7 months of silence, it has re-established contact with Earth.

http://www.space.com/29661-philae-comet-lander-wakes-up.html

[Lias]

This was pretty much my reaction when I saw this last night.

[Pitchey]

The little lander that could...