Can ya land on a meteor??

[Mugwump]

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29746430

[LizStreithorst]

I've been following that story on both the BBC and NPR.  They landed on the rubber ducky meteor then the thing bounced and floater for a couple of hours, bounced again and finally landed with one foot at the edge of a cliff.  Last I heard it was still sending back pics and data.  I am so happy for them.  All sorts of stuff went wrong with the mission but they still succeeded.

[Mugwump]

I've been following that story on both the BBC and NPR.  They landed on the rubber ducky meteor then the thing bounced and floater for a couple of hours, bounced again and finally landed with one foot at the edge of a cliff.  Last I heard it was still sending back pics and data.  I am so happy for them.  All sorts of stuff went wrong with the mission but they still succeeded.

There's a landing simulator on that link... ...see if ya can land it..

[Barb]

I heard that the solar panels are facing the wrong way, no sun hitting them, so the poor thing has only enough power for a few more hours then it dies.  How very disappointing to so many  people around the world.  Me included.
Barb

[PaulineMi]

I landed it safely with a 75% success rate...just slightly off target.

It's truly disappointing about the solar panel issue but it's incredible that something could be landed on a meteor speeding  through space!

[wsantia1]

I landed it safely with a 75% success rate...just slightly off target.

It's truly disappointing about the solar panel issue but it's incredible that something could be landed on a meteor speeding  through space!

Funny I landed safely at a 75% rate too.  Every time  I tried it. lol

[LizStreithorst]

I've been pulling for it all the way.  The thrusters didn't work and I feared it would fail.  The harpoons didn't deploy and it bounced for hours and then bounced again.  I thought that all was lost.  But the baby is sending back data.  It has overcome so much that I want it to overcome this.  It's like the little train that could.

[GraphicGr8s]

1st try 75% like everyone else 2nd time on target. Key is to increase speed a notch leave height all the way to the left.

[LizStreithorst]

Did y'all hear?  I heard it on NPR.  They maneuvered into a place where it gets more sunlight!  They didn't give details, but this is what I've been hoping for.

[Mugwump]

Did y'all hear?  I heard it on NPR.  They maneuvered into a place where it gets more sunlight!  They didn't give details, but this is what I've been hoping for.

Drilling for a core sample was successful too...

[LizStreithorst]

Did y'all hear?  I heard it on NPR.  They maneuvered into a place where it gets more sunlight!  They didn't give details, but this is what I've been hoping for.

Drilling for a core sample was successful too...

And it did that off it's batteries alone as far as I know.  I don't know why I care so much that this project succeed..  I think it was the spokesman than when the thing bounced for 2 hours said, all excited, that it not only landed once, it landed twice.  And then it went on to do it's job in spite of all odds.  It's the little train that can.

[GraphicGr8s]

Anyone remember when the US could do things like this?

[BillT]

I was listening to Science Friday today and they did a story on this.
Something I found interesting they said was that the lander had some amount of mass (which I forget now), but because of the weak gravity there (1/50,000th of the Earth's), the lander's weight (force of gravity) was about the same as a piece of paper on earth.

[Mugwump]

Anyone remember when the US could do things like this?

This is just NASA at Ames....In the US, NASA ,etc, don't get the hyped press like the international accomplishments do....

[BillT]

Comet lander pictures:

http://news.sciencemag.org/sifter/2014/11/iconic-shrimp-treadmill-now-for-sale?utm_campaign=email-news-weekly&utm_source=eloqua