Rosetta/Philae

[Thumper]

Landing on a comet. Good show.

[Cyborg Girl]

Awesome achievement, and yet the comment thread on the Guardian somehow manages to be utterly depressing and rife with stupid. Sigh.

(I mean seriously, they managed to land something on a comet after 10 years and just shy of 4 billion miles. What's with all the negativity?)

[Sigma_Orionis]

Apparently they have some issues keeping the probe attached to the comet.

I really hope they fix it, it would be a damned shame if after all this, the damned thing was lost.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Ok. it's stable now But now they're worried about the batteries.

[pumpkinpi]

It's ok to get worried, but keep this in mind: their "primary science mission" is only 2.5 days. Anything after that will be considered an extended mission. They have contact, they have pictures. They are in good shape! Of course, they would love it to go all Opportunity and keep going 40 times longer than planned!

Word is its first bounce took it more than a kilometer high!

[Sigma_Orionis]

Yeah, that definitely changes the perspective. I didn't think about it because it was a ten year ride and figured the primary mission would last longer.

BTW that tells us how far they had to push the envelope, 10 years to get there for 2 and a half day's worth of data.

[pumpkinpi]

Update from a person over at BABB whose colleague works on the mission:

"After long discussions the current status is that we had in fact three landings on a comet. At first touch down both the AOCS thruster and the anchors were not activated for reasons yet not fully understood. Philae bounced two more times. The first bounce took two hours and was possibly up to one kilometre. The second bounce was then only 20m. Since then the Lander appears to be stable and upright on the the surface. FSS is commencing nominal and next radio link is expected for about 7:30 CET. If radio contact is established we are back on the mission track. No deployment though until situation is clear. All instruments are working and we received data until end of radio link. All active instruments concur with the bouncing and a rotation of the lander during the first bounce in fact spin stabilising the Lander."

[Rommie]

Yeah, a big celebration these days in the European astronomical community. We watched it on a big screen here, and I thought to bring a bottle of prosecco for the occasion of them landing successfully. I confess though we drank it on the first bounce, didn't wait for the later ones.

Amazing pictures, really, especially looking at the one from the lander and remembering just how little we knew about comets just a few years ago. And we're going to learn so much more! Definitely a good thing, especially if one ever affects Earth potentially, to know what they're made of.

[pumpkinpi]

If you haven't already, watch this fantastic short film from ESA to promote the mission.

http://www.ambitionfilm.com/

[Sigma_Orionis]

I'm sure it is worth it. What impresses me is how far they had to go to get it

[Thumper]

If you haven't already, watch this fantastic short film from ESA to promote the mission.

http://www.ambitionfilm.com/

Blocked, of course, will have to try to watch from home. I knew from yesterday they couldn't confirm either the harpoons or the screws in the feet had deployed to secure it to the surface yet.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Blocked, of course

Ambition is bad for you. The IT Nanny. Always working to keep you on the straight and Narrow

[Rommie]

So good week for my grandma's birthday, because it turns out had I been on Twitter this weekend I likely would have gotten my first death/rape threats. Ain't the Internet grand?

Short version: one of the guys on the mission, Matt, showed an awful sense of taste and judgement by wearing a shirt with naked women all over it during the live TV coverage of the lander. (A lot of people were pointing out later a woman designed it who was his friend. I don't give a crap, it was still not a professional thing to wear unless you work in a bowling alley or strip club.) Then to top it off he said stuff like "this is a sexy mission, but while I said she's sexy, I didn't say she was easy." Ummmm, what?

I put on Twitter my initial reaction during the whole thing- namely, while I'm flabbergasted anyone would know they are on TV that day and consciously choose to wear it, I have no idea why no one at the ESA saw this shirt and didn't tell him to wear another one. (Beyond obvious "where the hell do you work?" guidelines, at NASA in comparison you have press officers who require scientists to go through "dry runs" of major press conferences in order to make them look better, and will critique what you plan to say/ tell you to change a shirt if it won't look good on camera, in order to make the science look better.) Dude apologized, so in my book it all goes down as a teachable moment for the field. Yay! Apparently though, this got under the crosshairs of the not-so-lovely GamerGate people GJ has been documenting here, and they've been now targeting the accounts of women astronomers. My colleagues have been getting threats, at times even doxxed (ie home address published online), and a lot of people on the outside have been telling us women "you seem so weak, why are you so upset about a shirt?"

Actually, I wasn't really, but why should you be able to tell me that I shouldn't be allowed to have an opinion on something that reflects on the cultural fabric of my work community? Seriously, I had a (female) friend who took her all-but-inactive Twitter account and just posted "I support Katie Mack" (one of the targeted astronomers) and was targeted by sock puppet accounts within minutes. Lots of nasty people out there.

Strange times we live in. Hopefully those idiots go away soon, as I see no point whatsoever in engaging them.

[Cyborg Girl]

Oh, that is disgusting. *fumes* Such a bunch of ungrateful bastards!

My Twitter account is currently closed, deletion pending. But @Rommie, if you need anyone to rant to - well, I'm not the greatest listener, but I'm all ears.

[pumpkinpi]

I put on Twitter my initial reaction during the whole thing- namely, while I'm flabbergasted anyone would know they are on TV that day and consciously choose to wear it, I have no idea why no one at the ESA saw this shirt and didn't tell him to wear another one. (Beyond obvious "where the hell do you work?" guidelines, at NASA in comparison you have press officers who require scientists to go through "dry runs" of major press conferences in order to make them look better, and will critique what you plan to say/ tell you to change a shirt if it won't look good on camera, in order to make the science look better.)

I tend to look for the good in people, so my theory is this. He had it on over a black polo, which some other members of flight crew were wearing. Perhaps he wasn't wearing the offensive shirt the whole time, but rather he threw it on right before he was interviewed. Thus, no one at ESA had time to tell him to take it off for the live interview.

That's me looking for the good in his coworkers. That makes him out to look even worse, though. Instead of ignorantly wearing a shirt he didn't consider might be offensive, he intentionally put it on to cause a ruckus.

I'm probably wrong. I'd just rather there be just one asshole on the Rosetta/Philae team than one asshole with a bunch of ignorant/complacent coworkers.

Dude apologized, so in my book it all goes down as a teachable moment for the field.

Yeah, bumps him up a bit in my mind. It doesn't excuse what he did in the first place. But it appears it was a teachable moment for him, too.

[squ1d]

I am surprised you can wear shirts with naked people on them in a professional science/engineering environment and not get disciplined/sacked/sent home.

[Rommie]

I put on Twitter my initial reaction during the whole thing- namely, while I'm flabbergasted anyone would know they are on TV that day and consciously choose to wear it, I have no idea why no one at the ESA saw this shirt and didn't tell him to wear another one. (Beyond obvious "where the hell do you work?" guidelines, at NASA in comparison you have press officers who require scientists to go through "dry runs" of major press conferences in order to make them look better, and will critique what you plan to say/ tell you to change a shirt if it won't look good on camera, in order to make the science look better.)

I tend to look for the good in people, so my theory is this. He had it on over a black polo, which some other members of flight crew were wearing. Perhaps he wasn't wearing the offensive shirt the whole time, but rather he threw it on right before he was interviewed. Thus, no one at ESA had time to tell him to take it off for the live interview.

That's me looking for the good in his coworkers. That makes him out to look even worse, though. Instead of ignorantly wearing a shirt he didn't consider might be offensive, he intentionally put it on to cause a ruckus.

I'm probably wrong. I'd just rather there be just one asshole on the Rosetta/Philae team than one asshole with a bunch of ignorant/complacent coworkers.

My understanding (as it came out after the fact) was the shirt was actually a conscious decision- his female designer friend made him the shirt and it was worn in an attempt to be "ironic." Great judgement there in assuming people would get this claimed sense of irony.

[Rommie]

I am surprised you can wear shirts with naked people on them in a professional science/engineering environment and not get disciplined/sacked/sent home.

Yep. Hence me not getting why people can't understand this (in venues such as the closed astronomers group on Facebook). Boggles the mind.

[geonuc]

... Apparently though, this got under the crosshairs of the not-so-lovely GamerGate people GJ has been documenting here, ...

Once again, I get no respect.

[Cyborg Girl]

Sorry geonuc, I should have given credit where it was due.

[Sigma_Orionis]

So, as usual there seems to be more to this than what was reported. One thing is to extrapolate from the guy's lack of taste on work attire (no I wouldn't wear a shirt like that at work, not even at home ) to claim that ESA has a "hostile environment" (which may or may NOT be far-fetched) but if in addition to Dr. Taylor's lack of taste, he just "had" to make a statement (coupled with some stupid comments), that changes things, he was looking for trouble and found it. So I think that it was appropriate of him to apologize. And the Gamergate whiners that just HAD to do their stalking thing should all get their respective leisure suits and sing "Bobby Brown", what a bunch of creeps.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Once again, I get no respect.

Of course you don't, you're a Nuclear-Geological-Legal-Pinko-Commie-Liberal

[Thumper]

It didn't appear so much to me as "naked" women but rather "pin up" images I'd relate to nose art on WWII era bombers. Here's a youtube video that shows the shirt a little, along with his apology.

I guess I have mixed feelings on this. On the one hand, they landed a spacecraft on a comet after 10 years and billions of miles. Who cares about what the scientist is wearing? I don't care if HE was naked. Does the fact that it was designed for him by a friend and that friend happened to be a woman matter? I don't know.

On the other hand, for the situation, it seemed to me to be in poor taste and showed bad judgement. Maybe it was his "lucky" shirt. For the produced television show the day of the landing, multiple interviews took place with multiple scientists in multiple locations. Some were outside in the dark. Maybe he had been outside for a smoke or a break and put it on while out because it was chilly. And then they caught him with it on.

Dude has sleeve tatoos and it appears he wants to make a more bold fashion statement than your average scientist. I'm willing to give him a pass though I still think it wasn't the greatest idea and wonder where the PR minders were knowing the attention everyone would be getting that day.

As for the disgusting retaliations Rommie mentioned, those are inexcusable. I still hope behavior like that gets investigated followed by some criminal indictments. But I don't have alot of hope for that.

Now back to the cool stuff: They landed a spacecraft on a comet! They got reams of data to process. The orbiter is still sending back images and data. They have high hopes that next spring, they'll be able to wake the lander when the solar panels get more sun.

[geonuc]

Once again, I get no respect.

Of course you don't, you're a Nuclear-Geological-Legal-Pinko-Commie-Liberal

But I'm a very respectable NGLPCL.

[Swift]

Apparently though, this got under the crosshairs of the not-so-lovely GamerGate people GJ has been documenting here, and they've been now targeting the accounts of women astronomers. My colleagues have been getting threats, at times even doxxed (ie home address published online), and a lot of people on the outside have been telling us women "you seem so weak, why are you so upset about a shirt?"

This is why I limit my Internet presence to a few select forums (none under my name), a Facebook account limited to family and actual friends, LinkedIn limited to actual colleagues, and that's about it; no blogs, no Twitter, no nothing. It is a scary, nasty anarchy out there.

Oh, and IMO, the guy was an idiot for wearing such a shirt. Maybe he was an innocent idiot, but an idiot none the less.