

Philae’s first touchdown seen by Rosetta - twowo
http://blogs.esa.int/rosetta/2014/11/14/philaes-first-touchdown-seen-by-rosetta/

======
mckoss
It looks like you can see the lander, up in the air and casting a shadow on
the surface in the 2nd image. If it is, you can get a good estimate of its
horizontal velocity from the image timestamp.

[https://plus.google.com/app/basic/stream/z13gzxiwdkq2clyew22...](https://plus.google.com/app/basic/stream/z13gzxiwdkq2clyew22ddx3p4neqihzjx04)

~~~
pcrh
That speck appears to be there in the first image as well, though not as
bright...?

I wonder if Philae actually landed exactly where computed (the green square),
and if so why the dark dust does not radiate from that spot, but "down-wards".
Perhaps Philae hit the surface at an angle?

------
valevk
Did the lander somehow adjust itself while hovering away from the original
landing site? I can't imagine Philae bouncing away, then flying for roughly
one hour (?) and then landing on its feet.

~~~
lmm
It would land heavy side down both initially and after a bounce, no?

~~~
throwaway_yy2Di
Gravity exerts almost no torque here. Philae has 100 kg of inertia, but it
weighs less than a feather.

Even if were in a strong gravity field, that still wouldn't orient it, if
there's no force like air resistance to attenuate its tumbling. It can rotate
indefinitely in the vertical plane: there's no loss of energy. (In an
atmosphere, this rotation is damped by air drag, so gravity can orient
things).

