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At the moment of touchdown on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, the landing gear will absorb the forces of landing while ice screws in each of the probe’s feet and a harpoon system will lock Philae to the surface. At the same time, a thruster on top of the lander was supposed to push it down to counteract the impulse of the harpoon imparted in the opposite direction. Credit: ESA/ATG medialab
UPDATE: Hugs and applause in Mission Control at 11:05AM ET, the sure sign of a successful landing despite incredible odds. What an incredible day for space exploration! Nothing like this has ever been done in the history of mankind.
Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream
Watch live NASA TV coverage of the European Space Agency (ESA) Rosetta landing mission’s of probe on comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.
Humans have never tried to do anything like this ever been before, ever. Let that sink in. When the ESA landing probe starts its daring touchdown maneuvers on the comet moments from when we’re publishing this blog post, they’d better have a lot of good luck on their side.
On the incredible cosmic choreography involved, from SpaceFlight Now:
The European Space Agency’s Rosetta orbiter is set to deploy a lander named Philae on Wednesday for a seven-hour descent to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasmimenko, an unexplored world that is rife with danger for the oven-sized landing craft.
“It is realistic that there is a potential for failure, but I am very optimistic,” said Fred Jansen, ESA’s Rosetta mission manager.
Going into the mission officials predicted about a 75 percent chance of a smooth landing by Philae. But that was before scientists saw the comet up close, a look that revealed its nucleus was scarred with cliffs, boulders, towering rock protrusions and possibly made of two parts joined together.
“It’s not a nice round potato,” Jansen said. “It’s rough, it’s more difficult. But we’ve analyzed the terrain. We’ve analyzed the comet, and we are confident that the risks we have are still in the area of the 75 percent success ratio that we’ve always felt.”
"This is a big step for human civilization," says European Space Agency head Jean-Jacques Dordain. #CometLanding http://t.co/GVMzFxTn4o
— Spaceflight Now (@SpaceflightNow) November 12, 2014
I’m on the surface but my harpoons did not fire. My team is hard at work now trying to determine why. #CometLanding
— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) November 12, 2014
Touchdown! My new address: 67P! #CometLanding
— Philae Lander (@Philae2014) November 12, 2014
TOUCHDOWN for @Philae2014! #CometLanding pic.twitter.com/ZMBeB8ng3h
— ESA Rosetta Mission (@ESA_Rosetta) November 12, 2014
#PoseToiPhilae Première image de la descente prise par ROLIS ! Prise à 14h38 (3m/pixel) @CNRS @CNES #CometLanding pic.twitter.com/Gn5x0ShX1y
— UNIVERS – CNRS (@UNIV_INSU_CNRS) November 12, 2014
"We can be happy. We definitely confirm that the lander is on the surface." LOTS OF GIGGLING #cometlanding @Philae2014
— Xeni Jardin (@xeni) November 12, 2014
"We are sitting on the surface, @Philae2014 is talking to us." (applause) "It is on the comet." #cometlanding #esa squeals of glee.
— Xeni Jardin (@xeni) November 12, 2014
"The first manmade landing on a comet. WOW." Head of Swiss space office #cometlanding @Philae2014
— Xeni Jardin (@xeni) November 12, 2014
"It is in my point of view a miracle." #cometlanding @Philae2014 Hesse PM, home state of @esa
— Xeni Jardin (@xeni) November 12, 2014
"There is no alternative to cooperation if we want to advance human space exploration" Head of Swiss space office #cometlanding @Philae2014
— Xeni Jardin (@xeni) November 12, 2014
"We're are on the comet!" #cometlanding
https://t.co/c6xIWJp0TR
— ESA (@esa) November 12, 2014
Looking back, looking forward. We're awaiting signal from @Philae2014 @ESA_Rosetta re #cometlanding. pic.twitter.com/6rn0ZFKMu9
— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) November 12, 2014
Deep thoughts by @tweetsoutloud and @PlanetDr pic.twitter.com/0itAwLQsHE
— Sarah Hörst (@PlanetDr) November 12, 2014
Did you know? We have 3 instruments on @ESA_Rosetta orbiter. Learn more: http://t.co/YyQkZrcz7g #CometLanding pic.twitter.com/REyARthppB
— NASA (@NASA) November 12, 2014
Everyone on this @ESA livestream is straight-up giddy. When you get European bureaucrats this excited you know something big has happened
— Xeni Jardin (@xeni) November 12, 2014
So wait, when do we blow the comet up
— Xeni Jardin (@xeni) November 12, 2014
The comet @Philae2014 just landed on is about 316 million miles (510 million km) from where you are reading this tweet right now.
— Xeni Jardin (@xeni) November 12, 2014
Philae's landing signals took ~28 mins to reach Earth from comet. That's the time it takes for radio signals to travel 300 million miles.
— Xeni Jardin (@xeni) November 12, 2014