Philae landing: lander status and first descent image

Highlights from coverage of ESA's Rosetta mission soft-landing its Philae probe on a comet, the first time in history that such an extraordinary feat has been achieved. Including the presentation of the first ROLIS image sent back by Philae as the lander descended to the surface of the comet.

After a tense wait during the seven-hour descent to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko, the signal confirming the successful touchdown arrived on Earth at 16:03 GMT (17:03 CET).

More about Rosetta at:

[EuropeanSpaceAgency]

Highlights from yesterday's final briefing of the day - on Philae lander status and the first descent image returned by the #cometlander  


#Rosetta #Philae  

[MariusPaulMunteanu]

A tremendous scientific achievement! Sincere congratulations to the entire Team !

[aerospacenews]

Awesome accomplishment! Congratulations to the Rosetta-Philae team all around the world!

[lovingsonx]

This is indeed a miraculous landing on such a speedy moving comet.
congratulation.

[KsNewSpace]

Well, Philae bounced off 2 times off the ground. Telemetry data indicates the first bounce to be 1km in height and the second 20m. During that time the flywheels were disabled because they do after touchdown to avoid further corrections when landed. This means Philae could've spun completely out of control during that time which would explain the datalink fluctuations. The most recent picture also shows (my interpretation) Philae not being on his feet but more on the side and a rod sticking inside the comet which might be its antenna. Regarding the relatively fast rotation speed the comet has it could be anywhere now. Can't wait for the press conference. 

[KubotaManDan]

Kudos out to Philae's team, but we are hungry for photos from the Philae lander, every media resource only shows the same one with the outcrop & taken by Rosetta. Is Philae laying on her side? Are you not sharing Philae's photo's she has taken? We have been watching closely and it appears your worried you will be judged if you show us the photos.  In your broadcast yesterday of the decent, you said you would be sharing the photos, now you seem to have a change of heart. You got us all wound up & then you pulled the plug...Now it's a Smoke & Mirrors mission...something I would expect from NASA ...not ESA.

[cruxader]

Is it true that Harpoons didn't work?

[ConnectedU]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't Philae "crash" and not land on the comet? I wouldn't call being hurled 1km back into space a "hop", some would even argue the second 20m bounce/hope was far from being acceptable.
Even if those "hops" were expected, why does it look like it did some kind of tumble across the comet before coming to a stop jammed solid next to a cliff face?
I'm only going by everything you said in the past how the landing should go, how it should look once it landed, what to expect, etc, etc... and to me, the only thing that you seem to have gotten correct is its still on the comet.

[TheHogtalare]

Amazing! So cool! I just wonder how come the pictures are black and white? Does Rosetta have any other/better cameras?

[dahlenaz]

Greetings and congratulations, ,  Roy said, have noticed in the following image:
15048351-1-eng-GB/Welcome_to_a_comet.jpg, that there looks to be a cable..
And i would add that it looks to be penetrating into the surface..
 Lower right corner of image.. There is also localized melting all around it..
 Might the melting be related to the cable's placement or
might material been cleared away to expose a melted area?, , , I hope that
is actually a cable and not some other part of the lander... It even looks to be under
tension but images can be tricky for the eye...

[marcmoini]

They're not kidding when they say "first descent image", it really is as far from a landing as you can imagine. I wish the lander is really sitting down on the surface like they say. These "space agencies" have very little credibility left, if you ask me.

[rursus]

The last comment was mind-blowingly stupid: "I don't to see need sensor data" ... etc.. Next time cut away such stupid comments.

[IanTester]

_We may have landed twice!_

Ha ha. But seriously, wouldn't that be somewhat bad?

[ernststavroblofeld]

Good heavens!
What the hell were you doing?! Too much Champagne praecox?
This is a lander, not a hopper! We paid a lot of money for this lander and you smash it upside-down into the rim of the crater in the middle of the shadow!!!
Unbelievable!
How is the poor lander now going to take pictures in the dark or recharge its batteries??! 
I just hope you have prepared for this and have a very detailed backup plan ready, to get the lander back into its proper landing position or you can pay for the lander out of your own pocket!
Remember, SPECTRE does not tolerate failure!
;->

[Kenzofeis]

Did it take some good pictures of the local McDonalds yet?

[bgb]

Europeans, as we know are perfectionists.

European Space Agency, ESA developed this bot #Philae  10 Years Ago & the bot successfully landed on #comet67p  in Perfect Shape

And of-course --- Sending Data back to Home from that distant "Vagabond Comet"

Awesome Guys...

[NewsInAction]

If it had landed on a spinning rock but then bounced off it, should it be heading in the last direction it was travalling, so it should be lost to outer space.  Thats an expensive set of photos then, shame ;(