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The BBC reports that Philae, the lander of the Rosetta probe on comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko has been located in a high-resolution image from Rosetta.
It was assumed Philae had bounced into a dark ditch on touchdown - an analysis now borne out by the latest pictures, which were acquired from a distance of 2.7km from the icy body.
[...] Rosetta had previously surveyed this location - dubbed Abydos - without success. "Candidate detections" were made but none were very convincing.
The difference today is a closer-in perspective and a change in the seasons on the comet, which means the hiding place is now better illuminated. The discovery comes just a few weeks before controllers plan to crash-land Rosetta itself on to the comet to formally end its mission.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 06 2016, @06:09AM
"Landing" on a body with puny gravity may be the wrong approach. Something like a spindly beach ball may be more effective than trying to land up-right. However, if you want to take soil samples, you are going to need some way to anchor yourself, and that's also difficult on a gravely dust-ball (or is it a dusty gravel-ball?)
(Score: 2) by turgid on Tuesday September 06 2016, @08:37PM
It had harpoons (spring-loaded) for spearing the surface.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].