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unhappycamper

(60,364 posts)
Mon Jan 20, 2014, 08:48 AM Jan 2014

Scientists hope comet-chaser spacecraft wakes up

http://www.thenewstribune.com/2014/01/19/3002330/scientists-hope-comet-chaser-spacecraft.html



FILE - In this Dec. 10, 2013 file picture a European Space Agency, ESA, employee sits in the control room for the Rosetta mission at the ESA in Darmstadt, Germany. Scientists at the European Space Agency are expecting their comet-chasing probe Rosetta to wake from almost three years of hibernation at 11 a.m. Monday Jan. 20, 2014 (1000 GMT; 5 a.m. EST) and phone home to say all is well.

Scientists hope comet-chaser spacecraft wakes up
By FRANK JORDANS
Associated Press
January 19, 2014 Updated 2 minutes ago

BERLIN — Europe's Rosetta probe is due to wake up from years of hibernation Monday, but scientists face an agonizing wait of several hours until the first signal reaches Earth and they can celebrate a new milestone in their unprecedented mission to land a spacecraft on a comet.

Dormant systems on the unmanned spacecraft were scheduled to switch back on at 11 a.m. (1000 GMT; 5 a.m. EST) in preparation for the final stage of its decade-long mission to rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. They had been powered down in 2011 to conserve energy, leaving scientists in the dark about the probe's fate until now.

"We don't know the status of the spacecraft," said Paolo Ferri, head of mission operations at the European Space Agency. "There is a possibility that we're not going to hear anything. Two-and-a-half years are a long time. We're talking about sophisticated electronics and mechanics. We've taken all possible precautions for this not to happen but of course we cannot exclude that problems may have happened."

Scientists will bridge the time between Rosetta's alarm going off and the first signal traveling the 800 million kilometers (500 million miles) back to Earth by holding a social media competition. Space enthusiasts are being asked to compose and perform songs to "wake up Rosetta," with the top entries being beamed to the spacecraft and the winner invited to witness the landing from ESA's mission control room.
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Scientists hope comet-chaser spacecraft wakes up (Original Post) unhappycamper Jan 2014 OP
Earth to Major Tom liberal N proud Jan 2014 #1
'Ground Control to Major Tom' byronius Jan 2014 #2
I stand corrected liberal N proud Jan 2014 #3
Normally I ain't so nitpicky. I just love that song. byronius Jan 2014 #4

byronius

(7,369 posts)
2. 'Ground Control to Major Tom'
Mon Jan 20, 2014, 12:11 PM
Jan 2014

Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on

Ground Control to Major Tom
Commencing countdown, engines on
Check ignition and may God’s love be with you

Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six, Five, Four, Three, Two, One, Lift-off

This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You’ve really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it’s time to leave the capsule if you dare

“This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I’m stepping through the door
And I’m floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today

For here
am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do

Though I’m past one hundred thousand miles
I’m feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much (she knows!)
Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear....

“am I floating round my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do.

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