back to article Trouble at Skull-Top Ridge: ESA boffins use data wizardry to figure out Philae probe's second touchdown site

ESA scientists have identified the location of the Philae lander's second touchdown site on Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and revealed new insights about the space snowball's interior. The fridge-sized lander was released from the Rosetta mothership back in November 2014, aiming for a landing on the surface of the comet. …

  1. Martin Gregorie
    Pint

    Definitely worth a beer...

    ... or two for a spot of excellent scientific sleuthing.

    1. seven of five Silver badge

      Re: Definitely worth a beer...

      Rather a fluffy, frothy Cappuccino, I'd presume.

      sod that, I'll have a beer as well.

  2. Chris G
    Pint

    Watch and learn

    Hollywood, watch and learn.

    The NCIS type programs think they are clever with their fake " Zoom in, and enhance". stuff but these guys are the real thing, investigating and inferring from scientific measurements from millions of miles away.

    I take my hat off to them!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Watch and learn

      > The NCIS type programs think they are clever with their fake " Zoom in, and enhance". stuff

      You've all seen this one I assume?

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vxq9yj2pVWk

    2. Blofeld's Cat
      Coat

      Re: Watch and learn

      "Enhance ,,, enhance ... over there ... zoom in and enhance"

      "That looks like the same pixel we saw at the other crime scene."

      "I knew it"

  3. ThatOne Silver badge
    Paris Hilton

    Frothy?

    If the boulder is that soft, how came that the probe bounced instead of simply sinking in?

    1. Mage Silver badge
      Boffin

      Re: Frothy?

      Almost no gravity.

    2. agurney

      Re: Frothy?

      If the boulder is that soft, how came that the probe bounced instead of simply sinking in?

      Temperature - have you never noticed that soft scoop ice cream straight from the freezer is still rock hard?

    3. Stoneshop
      Boffin

      Re: Frothy?

      Direction of impact, and area.

      Impact site 2 appears to have been scraped by Philae. Or skimmed, as we're talking about cappuccino. So little force perpendicular to the surface, and if that was by one of the lander's flat sides it would not have made a deep impression indeed.

      1. ThatOne Silver badge

        Re: Frothy?

        I get your arguments guys, but the article insists heavily on the soil being "fluffier than bubble bath foam".

        Bouncing a 100 kg object after the initial contact requires the soil to have an elastic force I wouldn't expect from something "fluffier than bubble bath foam", even if frozen solid. In my mind the probe's mere mass inertia should allow it to plough through the rubble and eventually get stuck inside the comet's surface after all its kinetic energy was spent.

        Harpoons or not, given the whipped cream consistence of the comet I would expect the probe to finish half-sunk in the "foamy" ground, except if the initial contact was a very glancing blow, and the lander just surfed the surface like a pebble on water, but why would they plan such a stupid trajectory?

        1. JCitizen
          Terminator

          Re: Frothy?

          They didn't plan it all - the onboard AI did.

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