
Definitely worth a beer...
... or two for a spot of excellent scientific sleuthing.
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. …
> The NCIS type programs think they are clever with their fake " Zoom in, and enhance". stuff
You've all seen this one I assume?
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?