EUTELSAT 7B satellite lines up for live broadcast of Rosetta mission’s historic comet landing

[adonis1]

Free-to-air broadcast on November 12 available live across Europe

Paris, 9 November 2014 - The EUTELSAT 7B satellite of Eutelsat Communications (NYSE Euronext Paris: ETL) is part of an exceptional infrastructure put in place by ESA to share the historic landing of the Philae lander on Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 12 November.

ESA’s Rosetta spacecraft arrived at Comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko on 6 August after a ten-year journey through the Solar System. The landing site, currently known as Site J and located on the smaller of the comet’s two ‘lobes’, was selected just six weeks after Rosetta arrived at the comet.

The mission’s lander, Philae, will separate from the Rosetta spacecraft on 12 November at 08:35 GMT/09:35 CET from a distance of 22.5 km from the centre of the comet. It will land about seven hours later, with confirmation expected to arrive at Earth at around 16:00 GMT/17:00 CET.

Three control centres are involved in the landing: the Rosetta Mission Operations Centre at ESA’s Space Operations Centre (ESOC) in Darmstadt, Germany; the Lander Control Centre at DLR in Cologne, Germany; and the Lander Science Operations and Navigation Centre at CNES in Toulouse, France. Activities at each control centre will be closely linked and will be featured in a combined English-language ESA TV programme broadcast from ESOC.

Viewers across Europe can watch the climax to the Rosetta mission via the EUTELSAT 7B satellite located at 7° East

Downlink frequency: 12676.83MHz
Polarisation: Y/vertical
Symbol rate: 7200 FEC: 5/6 Mod: DVBS2/8PSK
Signal: 1080i/50 MPEG4 4:2:0 H264 Audio 1: prog mono / Audio 2: ambience

Please see below the scheduled timelime for the landing operations and consult the dedicated ESA Rosetta website (http://rosetta.esa.int) or the ESA TV page

(http://www.esa.int/esatv/Television) for more information and updates on this exceptional space mission.

Nov. 11
19:00 GMT / 20:00 CET Go-No Go #1

Nov. 12
06:00-07:00 GMT / 07:00-08:00 CET: Final preparation manoeuvre and Go/No-Go # 5 for lander separation

08:30-09:15 GMT / 09:30-10:15 CET: Lander separation scheduled at 09:03 GMT/10:03 CET

11:00-12:15 GMT / 12:00-13:15 CET: Science update and first pictures expected around 12:00 GMT / 13:00 CET

14:00-15:30 GMT/ 15:00-16:30 CET: Rosetta science / Last preparations and then await landing

15:45-16:15 GMT /16:45-17:15 CET: Landing expected at 16:00 GMT / 17:00 CET (+/- 15 mn)

17:00 GMT /18:00 CET earliest: Presentation of first panoramic image from the comet

eutelsat.com

 

[adonis1]

 

[Archived-1]

Many thanks, i will be watching this

 

[adonis1]

The actual event in space will have happened 28 min:20 secs earlier, as this is the one-way signal time on 12 November (and we must wait at least this amount of time to know about it or confirm it here on Earth).

 

[Analoguesat]

I'll be at work - so I'll be watching the ESA TV webstream

 

[vladan10]

live
12678 V 7200 dvb-s2 ,8psk ,5/6
12687 V 7200 dvb-s2 ,8psk ,5/6
12696 V 7200 dvb-s2 ,8psk ,5/6
MPEG4 HD
H.264 Video: Resolution 1920 x 1080 Interlaced: 1
Descriptor: AVC video descriptor Descriptor

 

[adonis1]

National Geographic to stream Rosetta landing.

More than ten years after its launch into space – on a mission to chase down Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko – the Rosetta spacecraft is nearing the next phase of its journey: plant a lander called Philae on the speeding comet. On November 12th, National Geographic Channel will broadcast online a live stream of the European Space Agency’s video feed from Rosetta to capture this historic moment – from Philae’s initial separation confirmation on-ground to the landing signal being received on Earth. The live stream will be available on www.natgeotv.com and on National Geographic Channel Asia’s Facebook page.

National Geographic Channel cameras have been following this scientific achievement since the beginning of the year. The network’s special, Comet Catcher: The Rosetta Landing, follows a team from the European Space Agency as they attempt a world first: to land a craft onto a speeding comet hundreds of millions of kilometres from Earth and ride the comet as it approaches the sun.


advanced-television.com

 

[Lazarus]

Not a dicky-bird on 12677 , 12687 or 12696.

Anyone got details of an active broadcast?

 

[Lazarus]

Just doing a Blind Scan to see if anything relevant pops up.

I should have thought a 1.1m dish would suffice?

 

[Llew]

12676H OK here. No audio for me.

 

[far78]

12677 was certainly active until at least 3am last night but the signal was rather weak down here on my 1m and prone to breakup

 

[Lazarus]

12676H OK here. No audio for me.

12677 was certainly active until at least 3am last night but the signal was rather weak down here on my 1m and prone to breakup

Thanks, chaps. I guess my 1m dish is simply not up to the job, especially as it has been raining here.

Drying up now, so I might nip out and polish my LNB!

 

[far78]

Just checked here and 12677 is about the same as last night here now - i.e. reasonable for now but signal on the verge of breakup. Not had a chance to check the other transponders yet to see if they're active.

 

[Lazarus]

Aha.

Active now, at full bore.

rt1.tv

SS 90 SQ 72

Splendid.

@far78: You're not many miles from me so I'm surprised it's on the cusp for you. My current dish is a tad smaller than the TD110 I used to use and is probably a nominal 1m.

 

[BlindFaith]

With 70cm in Berlin

 

[zorbua]

The Three Freqs.

 

[Lazarus]

Oooh, thanks: Will try the other two now.

 

[Lazarus]

Nothing on 12696, but ok on 12687 (F224 Toulouse).

Will trim dish Az after "Popmaster".

 

[sonnetpete]

After a blind scan on the Dr HD picking up rt1.tv at 14.7 dB....

...and slightly less on the other two...13dB

 

[Lazarus]

Have tweaked dish as best I can and still nowt on 12696.

12687 disappears if I move the dish as little as 0.2 deg either way, so must be right on the limit of lock for me.

Fortunately 12677 is strong and stable.