Comet landing: Organic molecules detected by Philae

The Philae lander has detected organic molecules on the surface of its comet, scientists have confirmed.

Carbon-containing "organics" are the basis of life on Earth and may give clues to chemical ingredients delivered to our planet early in its history.

The compounds were picked up by a German-built instrument designed to "sniff" the comet's thin atmosphere.

Other analyses suggest the comet's surface is largely water-ice covered with a thin dust layer.

Comet landing: Organic molecules detected by Philae

Long has it been surmised that comets could seed life and water in the universe, first question that springs into my mind is ok .. but where did the floating chunks of water come from? travelling at great speeds?
An exploding water planet? maybe their is a Tap/Faucet somewhere

Still amazing news , 10-20 cm of Dust then water ice? , man would i like to drill into that ice , if stuff can survive their life will be prevalent as it survives just about anywhere.

As always we live in exciting times

Q

I thought it ran out of power.

Is the thing even on the "comet"?!?

Is this thing sniffing comet fumes? I used to smell the exhaust of my seventy one comet to see if it was running ok.

I wonder what organic chemical they were finding?

originally posted by: notquiteinsane
I thought it ran out of power.

Is the thing even on the "comet"?!?

I think this is from the latest data philae sent back before nap time, its a very elaborate ruse, with 1000's of people and countless hours of research and millions in money which are of course all lies.

or its on the comet.

Q

a reply to: Quantum_Squirrel

Interesting. It's possible that the water just coalesces together because H20 is a polar molecule (negative end and a positive end). However, the idea of a former planetary source isn't far fetched at all, I think. Both Mars and Earth, both of which are in the Goldilocks zone for life, have hypotheses in regards to large impacts that could've ejected a ton (okay maybe a few quadrillion tons) of matter into space. Theia is proposed planet to hit Earth, Phobos and Deimos, iirc, are believed to be the result of a large scale impact on Mars, which shows evidence of once having a lot of water.

So maybe planetary impact ejecting water plus organic carbon indeed.

a reply to: Quantum_Squirrel

I'm just saying the thing was fine for 10+ years but now it "landed" and has no battery?!?

Sounds goofy.

(S+F) (cool stuff.)

a reply to: Quantum_Squirrel

There are water stars! They give off steam for hundreds of thousands of miles n when it finally cools down...
Water flying through space!

here

a reply to: notquiteinsane

Maybe the comet is electricly charged, and it killed the battery.

a reply to: notquiteinsane

I'm just saying the thing was fine for 10+ years but now it "landed" and has no battery?!?

How long does the battery in your cell phone last if its not "on"?

But I dig your skepticism, keeps people thinking about press releases vs. the truth.

a reply to: notquiteinsane

It has no battery because once landed it actually had to do stuff - crucially, sending back huge amounts of data. For 10 years it's basically been farting every once in a while to slightly adjust it's trajectory. Different things entirely.

I hope they've got a good data package - I copped a big cell bill from sending a couple of pics home from my last holiday.

What would be the reason to lie about this, by the way?

a reply to: notquiteinsane

It's solar powered, and landed itself in a shady spot of the comet

Of course upon review, it turns out…

But he added that the team was still trying to interpret the results.

It has not been disclosed which molecules have been found, or how complex they are.

ETA: Good thing they are so vague about it…

A key objective was to drill a sample of "soil" and analyse it in Cosac's oven. But, disappointingly, the latest information suggest no soil was delivered to the instrument.

Prof McCaughrean explained: "We didn't necessarily see many organics in the signal. That could be because we didn't manage to pick up a sample. But what we know is that the drill went down to its full extent and came back up again."

Thats like tasting an empty spoon.

originally posted by: notquiteinsane
a reply to: Quantum_Squirrel

I'm just saying the thing was fine for 10+ years but now it "landed" and has no battery?!?

Sounds goofy.

(S+F) (cool stuff.)

The explanation is quite simple.

It has landed beside a cliff, and the shadow of the cliff is over the solar panels, so it's batteries are running down because the sun can't recharge them.

is it time to crack open the Champaign , in the great revelation we maybe all descendants of space goo ?

funbox

"I thought it ran out of power."
its battery's dont last long.
they recharge from solar cells.

they did not say what they found !
I bet the government gets to them.

"oh we made a mistake" sighs...

originally posted by: intrptr
Of course upon review, it turns out…

But he added that the team was still trying to interpret the results.

It has not been disclosed which molecules have been found, or how complex they are.

ETA: Good thing they are so vague about it…

A key objective was to drill a sample of "soil" and analyse it in Cosac's oven. But, disappointingly, the latest information suggest no soil was delivered to the instrument.

Prof McCaughrean explained: "We didn't necessarily see many organics in the signal. That could be because we didn't manage to pick up a sample. But what we know is that the drill went down to its full extent and came back up again."

Thats like tasting an empty spoon.

I think the results came from the atmospheric tests done

The compounds were picked up by a German-built instrument designed to "sniff" the comet's thin atmosphere.

something floating around in the atmos... but then , what was the range of this device, what type of "organics" did it detect ?

vague

funbox

originally posted by: funbox
is it time to crack open the Champaign , in the great revelation we maybe all descendants of space goo ?

I know you are, but what am I?

a reply to: Blue Shift

I believe you're a resized blue-it ,whose come to Earth to cause impious Armageddon, deliver a few letters from your great aunt Itsey, and to visit your sister that came here to study molecular stabilisation under duress,

surely just as plausible ?

funbox

a reply to: Quantum_Squirrel

Can't say I didn't expect these sort of developments; but I'm stoked to hear it's coming back already. Good stuff, thanks for the update OP.

Keep it comin!

:S&FEmoticon:

a reply to: notquiteinsane

I don't think Philae is completely dead. From what I understand, the solar panels are fine, but they are only getting about 1.5 hours of sunlight per day. They counted on 6.5 hours or so per day had it landed and anchored in the target landing zone.

Whenever the solar panels start to receive sunlight, the charging system wakes up and starts the battery charging process. Eventually the battery should recharge sufficiently to continue its experiments.

One thing I didn't know until I watched the recording of the ESA press conference over the weekend is that Philae was designed to hop. It's possible that once the ESA team has a lot more information about the lander's position and status, and once the primary science is complete, they may be able to move Philae to a more advantageous location.


dex