I am really some kind of sad that the Rosetta mission is over now. When I had left the German army and started into a civilian career, my first job as apprentice included fixing the computers of Philae engineers. That was 1998, when Rosetta was still aiming for Wirtanen. Since then, I had been able to tell "I was maybe just the smallest cog in a big wheel, but I contributed to it." Now this subplot of my life is really over, it was a plainly epic mission.
And now for the most important question. Will it bounce higher than Philae? Place your bets!
I bet for 5 bounces. :lol: But how are we going to measure it. Anybody planning a trip to 67P?
Flight Director Paolo Ferri had the honor to send the final telemetry command to Rosetta, now its just waiting for EOS and gathering as much science data as possible in that time.
---------- Post added at 01:16 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:07 PM ----------
Science data from less than 600m altitude is now decoded.
---------- Post added at 01:19 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:16 PM ----------
TLM reports less than 200 meters and 3 minutes to impact.