Rosetta Spacecraft Roused from 957-Day Sleep

[CommanderFrank]

Talk about sleeping on the job, the ESA’s deep space comet chaser will awake from an extended sleep begun on July 10th, 2010 and go through a planned startup routine in preparation to meet and orbit an incoming comet.

 

[serpretetsky]

orbit a a comet that is 4km wide! How slow and low will the satelite be to orbit such a small mass?

 

[funkydmunky]

Video and article says in hibernation since June 8 2011. Where did you get your date MajorDomo?

 

[Twisted Kidney]

orbit a a comet that is 4km wide! How slow and low will the satelite be to orbit such a small mass?

I don't think it will be a stable orbit, I gather the plan is to "orbit" with velocity control and plop the lander on the surface.

The firing solution must be something to behold.

 

[deathBOB]

FYI you can watch the wake up call live here: http://www.space.com/17933-nasa-television-webcasts-live-space-tv.html

Schedule says they should be waiting for signal from 12:30 AM - 1:30 PM (Eastern).

 

[bucketlist]

When it replied back, it said...

00110101 00100000 01101101 01101111 01110010 01100101 00100000 01101101 01101001 01101110 01110101 01110100 01100101 01110011 00101110