

Controllers wait on Philae link - lentil_soup
http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33163835

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randallsquared
> “It’s like flying your car in a snowstorm. You don’t see anything, and
> that’s quite dangerous,” said Elsa Montagnon [...]

\-- from an alternate universe where we got those flying cars.

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gjm11
When asked about her experience of snowstorms, Elsa made a cryptic remark
about her sister and then fell silent.

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ende
Maybe someone can answer this: the higher resolution images of asteroid
surfaces are amazing, but I wonder what video would show in terms of surface
dynamics. Is there likely a lot of dust and debris within proximity to the
surface or are they just fairly uneventful rocks floating in space? Also, I
can look up rotation and other measurements but it's difficult to piece
together a whole picture including the relative size of these things.. If I
were standing on an asteroid, would I visibly or physically sense rotation?

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drzaiusapelord
Its a shame the ESA never invested in RTG technology. Hoping for enough
photons to power those solar cells seems crazy, especially for an almost $1.6
billion dollar mission. Sure, pu-238 is in short supply but the ESA consists
of the UK and France, both with the nuclear capacities to create some.

Anti-nuclear hysteria is out of control in the EU.

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reo9Sahx
No it's not. An RTG is simply not feasible for the short-lived, low-mass probe
in question. Philae is 100kg total and will burn up in a few months when the
comet comes near the sun, it would be a giant waste of resources to equip it
with an RTG that could yield power for decades.

See [http://nucleardiner.com/2014/11/15/wasnt-philae-given-
rtg](http://nucleardiner.com/2014/11/15/wasnt-philae-given-rtg)

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drzaiusapelord
Its 100kg because its designed without an RTG. Obviously the design would have
changed to accommodate it and we wouldn't be sitting here wondering if it has
enough juice to work, thus pissing away a significant part of that $1.6b
budget.

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reo9Sahx
Note that Philae has already performed most of the experiments that were
planned in the first two days it was operational and that all data from those
experiments has been received. Philae never was a failure, that it now wakes
up again is an additional bonus. Also consider that an additional O(100kg) for
an RTG significantly alters your energy requirements to get into orbit (see
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_equation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_equation))

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drzaiusapelord
TFA:

“The power from the solar arrays is not sufficient, on its own, to drill and
analyse cometary samples, for example.”

Its clear that power is an issue and an RTG would have solved it. These don't
sound like "bonuses" to me.

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happyscrappy
Later in the article:

"And eventually, Philae will hopefully get sufficient power in its battery to
drill into the comet and analyse its make-up."

Although claiming it was never a failure is pretty laughable.

