So are they actually attempting to dislodge it from the side of the cliff? In other words "push" it out farther "away" from the cliff into a flat area? or are they just rotating the main body on the legs?

From ESA operations:

Lander now performing 'lift & turn' of the main body on the landing gear - will last about 10 mins. telecomm link is good

ESA OPS

my understanding was rotation only but...

35 degree rotation achieved... no idea on power state yet - someone said better is good - but no idea for how much longer - have to hope one of the bigger panels is now oriented...

Emily's tweets are gripping news. I haven't been this much on edge since watching Europa Report (another Last Comm Chance type story!). Visit https://twitter.com/elakdawalla -- the updates will appear without refreshing the page.

There was talk this morning about using the fly-wheel to perhaps get it into a better spot since the situation with the battery is so dire. Just wasn't sure if this was that move or not.

Sounds like a bit of both.

They've said before that any mechanical motion might cause Philae to shift in the light gravity. Also, if the drill made contact earlier (sounds good so far) it may also have shifted things a bit. Crossing fingers & toes for more sun... Just imagine if we could get more & better panoramas! (& additional science of course) from this rugged area!

Ptolemy measurement started...so hopefully material was successfully delivered...sure wish they would give battery and panel state but we have to wait for the radio delay...

I think the blue diamond is around 2 o'clock, while the 'moving pixel' is more like 4 o'clock, right?

The Ptolemy measurement in progress is not from the drill.
The drill sample went to COSAC.

Tweet @Philae_Ptolemy : OK, to be clear, Ptolemy *is* trying to measure a sample but not from the drill.

"Stefan Ulamec: We have energy, we got data. We got all the housekeeping data including all the COSAC data. No idea what's in there."

Regarding the battery, I saw this interesting tweet from Emily a few minutes ago:


At the very least this is not bad news.


This has probably been the most exciting and 'biggest' edge-of-the-seat mission I have ever followed.

Even if the lander aspect change due to the rotation is not enough to
keep it alive, it may improve the chances of it waking up later on when the comet
is closer to perihelion.

What a rollercoaster ride this has been (so far!). These must be the ``Days
of High Adventure'' that the storyteller in "Conan" was talking about
(you won't understand this reference unless you've been a teenager in the 80s)

Most hopeful clue I have seen is that @esaoperations retweeted that specific, albeit enigmatic, tweet https://twitter.com/esaoperations/status/533394723919396867

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B2cE23wCMAEhV4U.jpg:large

voltage drop...ouch...slight upturn though...cross your fingers..

Still > zero, and they're doing a lot of stuff.

ESA OPS

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B2cGPAtIYAASDMO.jpg:large

main bus dropping fast now...could go offline at any time...

Cool!




Thanks!




It was via twitter from the CNES. I actually got email from some guy at ESA where i took those images!
CNES is very "partisan" organization (in a good way) in some matters!



It definitely is! I have now six twitter windows opened. What a thrill with the drill!

So long Philae....milk it to the last second and transmit as much as you can...

21.5 volts...any time now...it may come back or it may not...just have to see how much it uplinked...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B2cJCzxCMAI1QKW.jpg:large

Slow clap...

transmitting to the end....467 Ptolemy packets...

Link still good - downloading to the bitter end...

Link lost for one minute and resumed...

Yup, I can't even imagine how they feel as they race to get as much data back as possible.

Another image

RT @Philae2014: Just completed another ROLIS image! That means that I've imaged 3 different spots on the comet!

I'm confused about the 3 diff spots rather than 2. Weren't all the first ROLIS images of the intended landing spot? Are there others, not yet released? Has Philae been confirmed to have moved again recently?

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B2cMuN4IEAAq-Db.jpg:large

data still flowing...uplink still nominal...

This may be a reference to the site of Bounce #2.

Amazing, maybe the rotation maneuver worked and is providing more solar energy?

Don't think so with the main bus in free fall voltage wise...it may be getting more light but unless they seriously reduce power consumption I think we are watching the swan song... just have to hope it wakes up again at some point...

After having rotated 35°, ROLIS is imaging another spot.

ROLIS can take multiple images, and some have been withheld. The phone photo of a ROLIS image on a monitor was not authorized for release, for example. I'm fairly certain they mean the three touchdown locations, the last one being of the region below the famous panorama we've been looking at.

45 minutes left in uplink session...don't think it will last that long but we will see..

http://www.cnes.fr/web/CNES-fr/11557-gp-de...ama-de-civa.php

Good source of the original panorama images and good explanation.
In French yes but easily readable.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B2cQQYnCcAAEDNR.jpg:large

Ptolemy team getting ready with the bubbly..

It's Jean-Pierre Bibring on the right !

1 spot - the first landing site.
2 spot - terrain under lander in the final landing site.
3 spot - terrain under lander in the final landing site after rotation 35° (ROLIS has off-axis FOV).
ROLIS probably (almost certainly) did not imaged second and third landing site in the descent mode because this wasn't part of the program.

Yep !

If the panorama had been within minutes of touch down the pics would have been a lot different !

Lander has switched to stand by due to low power. All instruments off. Comm link still active...

Sweet dreams !

End of primary mission.

Fatboy Slim: Praise you like I should
http://youtu.be/ruAi4VBoBSM

All science data got uploaded.

chrislintott

It ain't over until its over. But just in case:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHcunREYzNY

What a ride!
Let's hope for a perihelion miracle... or that darned outcrop sublimating away.

nail biting and thrilling!
Thanks to all at ESA and those on the forum for their images and commentary over the last day.

In the middle is Wlodek Kofman, PI of Consert instrument. I was in his lab IPAG when I was a PhD student :-)

Major congratulations to everyone involved! Great job of improvising in a very difficult situation and thanks for inviting us along for the ride.