What Can Philae See?

This is the CIVA Panoramic view taken with six cameras on the Philae lander referred to below. www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2014/11/First_comet_pano... In this annotated version of the previous image I have drawn in the outline of Philae, her shadow and marked all the cryorocks visible from this position. It is just possible to see the SD2 drill sticking up at the back, but I didn't trust my drawing skills to try and show it. Another image from CIVA showed the view to Philae's left with sun illuminating the edges of the cryorock and a small lump of another cryorock peeking out from behind them. Also there is a plate that juts out towards Philae, the top of which is just visible. The outline of this left side of the cave matches the CIVA back left image too. Three plates of cryorock can be seen right behind Philae and their relatively smooth surface can be seen in the back, stereoscopic camera view CIVA took, which the ESA team noted were very close. The final CIVA image with the third foot in it, is a view towards the back of the alcove and appears to be the dust covered ground with splotches of paler material spread randomly across it. Any thing in this part of the alcove is not visible. The whole ledge the alcove is on, slopes downwards away from Philae, so the back of the cave is higher than the front. The back foot is actually on the ground, while the back left foot seems to be sat on a ledge of cryorock slightly higher and the front foot looks to be a little way off the ground. The landing gear may well be resting on top of some cryorock as well keeping Philae stuck in place. The slope is far less than 30 degrees so Philae's automatic levelling system has compensated to leave her main body vertical. The SD2 drill is in the back left corner of the body and the landing gear below slopes up to the left meaning the drill may not have reached all the way down to the surface. At the top of the image is where I think Philae landed the second time. This bright area is totally out of keeping with the whole dark surrounding area. The dark dusty surface has been cleaned exposing brighter cryorock beneath. The amazingly regular triangle of bright circles are Philaes pad prints just as were seen at the first landing site. Some of the dust/gravelly material disturbed by Philae fell into the cave and can be seen on top of the bright cryobolder in the CIVA image. It might also explain the lighter coloured material randomly covering the back of the cave floor seen in the back right CIVA image. The view from the front left panel is completely unobstructed, giving a clear view of space with just a hint of something at the bottom of the shot below the CONSERT antenna. This might be all Philae can see of the ledge sloping down and away from her. The front facing camera sees half empty space, the cryorocks running along the right of the ledge and in the distance a cliff across a deep ravine. This image was combined by the CIVA team with the front right camera which took the image of the amazing cryorock at the side of the entrance to the cave. Two bits of overhanging cryorock features can bee seen in the CIVA image which are matched by protruding features on the line of cryorock running along the back of the ledge as seen in the NAVCAM close up. So is it Philae? It is very hard for me not to think so. The only issue is how much has the image processing distorted the view? More than enough to invalidate my opinion some would say and I could not totally disagree. So it is still speculation, but I am not expecting Philae to be found somewhere else. Credits: ESA/Rosetta/NAVCAM – CC BY-SA IGO 3.0

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