Difference between revisions of "1446: Landing"
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| titletext = [LIVE] | | titletext = [LIVE] | ||
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| − | Frames of the comic | + | *Frames of the comic started appearing November 12, 2014 and were being updated every five minutes. The collection of images creates a {{w|flip book}} that is displayed above. |
==Explanation== | ==Explanation== | ||
| − | + | This comic changed over time during 12 hours and 15 minutes starting at 0:00 EST (when the comic normally is released) posting 143 pictures that tracked the progress of the {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae}} lander separating from the {{w|European Space Agency}}'s {{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}} probe to land on comet {{w|67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko}}. More info can be found here: [https://rosetta.esa.int rosetta.esa.int]. | |
| − | This comic changed over time during 12 hours and 15 minutes starting at 0:00 EST (when the comic normally is released) posting 143 pictures that tracked the progress of the {{w|Philae (spacecraft)|Philae}} lander separating from the {{w|European Space Agency}}'s {{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}} probe to land on comet {{w|67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko}}. More info can be found here: [ | ||
The comic presents the imagined anthropomorphic "thoughts" of the Rosetta spacecraft and the Philae lander (and occasionally other parties) during the hours approaching separation from each other, approach to the comet and finally the apparently successful landing on the comet. | The comic presents the imagined anthropomorphic "thoughts" of the Rosetta spacecraft and the Philae lander (and occasionally other parties) during the hours approaching separation from each other, approach to the comet and finally the apparently successful landing on the comet. | ||
| Line 16: | Line 15: | ||
Beginning at [[Media:???65.png|11:05]], the comic includes a '''"Status Report"''' in the lower right corner which summarizes the status of various interested parties and accomplishments, beginning with "Rosetta", "Philae lander", "Mission Control", "Comet 67P", and "Have we landed on a comet?". As events occur in the comic, more status summaries are added to keep track of the changes to the situation and the supposed emotions behind them. | Beginning at [[Media:???65.png|11:05]], the comic includes a '''"Status Report"''' in the lower right corner which summarizes the status of various interested parties and accomplishments, beginning with "Rosetta", "Philae lander", "Mission Control", "Comet 67P", and "Have we landed on a comet?". As events occur in the comic, more status summaries are added to keep track of the changes to the situation and the supposed emotions behind them. | ||
| − | In many pictures a whale can be seen on the surface of the comet - often marked with a "?" as are almost all other parts of the unknown surface at this time. There is also drawn a [[Cueball]] on the surface also marked with a "?" Both are then at some point marked with a ''probably not'' - starting from [[Media:???83.png|12:35]]. The whales are also mentioned in the "Status Report" where they for instance may be listed as "calm" or "(probably) not in space". At [[Media:???122.png|16:00]] the when the entire Earth goes ''AAAAAAAAAAA'' the whales are listed as saying this as well (along with Mission control and U.S. scientists). From this moment "Dolphins and fish" are also mentioned in the report. They are asking if it is the whales that scream. The reference to whales comes from the fact that Philae brought along two harpoons that should have been used to anchor it to the comet. On Earth, harpoons have mainly been used to hunt whales; Randall previously | + | In many pictures a whale can be seen on the surface of the comet - often marked with a "?" as are almost all other parts of the unknown surface at this time. There is also drawn a [[Cueball]] on the surface also marked with a "?" Both are then at some point marked with a ''probably not'' - starting from [[Media:???83.png|12:35]]. The whales are also mentioned in the "Status Report" where they for instance may be listed as "calm" or "(probably) not in space". At [[Media:???122.png|16:00]] the when the entire Earth goes ''AAAAAAAAAAA'' the whales are listed as saying this as well (along with Mission control and U.S. scientists). From this moment "Dolphins and fish" are also mentioned in the report. They are asking if it is the whales that scream. The reference to whales comes from the fact that Philae brought along two harpoons that should have been used to anchor it to the comet. On Earth, harpoons have mainly been used to hunt whales; Randall previously mentioned that comparison in [[1402: Harpoons]], suggesting that Philae was programmed to believe it was sent to kill the comet. It is Philae that "dreams" about whales on the surface of the comet which can be seen in the picture for [[Media:???93.png|13:25]] and in the status report. |
| − | Some {{w|Douglas Adams}} fans believe these whales and dolphins are references to ''{{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}'' and ''{{w|So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish}}.'' Whales in space have been appearing in fiction and art since the 1960s. However, with the above mentioned reasons for whales, dolphins and fish, this seems less and less likely. | + | Some {{w|Douglas Adams}} fans believe these whales and dolphins are references to ''{{w|The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy}}'' and ''{{w|So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish}}.'' Whales in space have been appearing in fiction and art since the 1960s. However, with the above-mentioned reasons for whales, dolphins, and fish, this seems less and less likely. |
| + | |||
| + | At [[Media:???115.png|15:25]] Rosetta asks Philea about destroying and levitating rocks via mind control. This is a reference to the [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32vlOgN_3QQ Ambition] short movie, ESA commitioned to gather public awareness of the Rosetta mission. | ||
Shortly after release from Rosetta ([[Media:???56.png|10:15]]), Philae calls out 'Spaaaaaaaaaace'; this mimics the {{w|Portal 2}} 'Space core' who, on finally reaching space in the last scenes, gives the same elated cry. | Shortly after release from Rosetta ([[Media:???56.png|10:15]]), Philae calls out 'Spaaaaaaaaaace'; this mimics the {{w|Portal 2}} 'Space core' who, on finally reaching space in the last scenes, gives the same elated cry. | ||
| − | US Scientists presumably wake up at 7:40 EST ([[Media:???96.png|13:40]] UTC) and in the report they now says "Bluuurghhh. What time is it?" to indicate their tiredness. This does not change until 10:25 EST ([[Media:???115.png|15:25]] UTC) so they are slow to wake (2 hours 45 minutes). At this point, they becomes anxious as there are only 10 minutes to landing. This last until there is 15 minutes until news of landing (a reference to the 28 minutes time | + | US Scientists presumably wake up at 7:40 EST ([[Media:???96.png|13:40]] UTC) and in the report they now says "Bluuurghhh. What time is it?" to indicate their tiredness. This does not change until 10:25 EST ([[Media:???115.png|15:25]] UTC) so they are slow to wake (2 hours 45 minutes). At this point, they becomes anxious as there are only 10 minutes to landing. This last until there is 15 minutes until news of landing (a reference to the 28 minutes time delays due to the huge distance to the comet). From then on ([[Media:???120.png|15:50]]) they and the mission control (MC) say "AAAAAAA". They stop this when the news should be there - the NOW ([[Media:???122a.png|16:05]]) - and everybody holds their breath indicated by [...] - also MC. Finally ([[Media:???125.png|16:25]]) they and MC become proud (along with Earth) when Philae announces ''I got you a comet.'' It should have stopped there but as Philae bounced around, they then becomes anxious again [[Media:???128.png|16:40]], and then these changes to nervous [[Media:???129.png|16:45]] (switching those emotions with MC). And then suddenly ([[Media:???130.png|16:50]]) it is no longer US Scientists but just plain Scientists - that are nervous. It stays like this during the last few pictures, although they again become anxious, but when Philae announces ''I did it'', they drink wine as indicated with "[wine]" in the report from the second to last picture ([[Media:???134.png|17:10]]). |
| − | Randall has written "A big thank-you to [https://twitter.com/elakdawalla Emily Lakdawalla] for help and advice on this comic" in the xkcd page header for [ | + | Randall has written "A big thank-you to [https://twitter.com/elakdawalla Emily Lakdawalla] for help and advice on this comic" in the xkcd page header for [https://www.xkcd.com/1446/ Landing], revealing the possible source of his near real-time data. |
| − | At [[Media:???124.png|16:20]] the status report had announced a big '''Yes''' to the questions "Have we landed on a comet" and "Do harpoons work on comets". According to [ | + | At [[Media:???124.png|16:20]] the status report had announced a big '''Yes''' to the questions "Have we landed on a comet" and "Do harpoons work on comets". According to [https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30026398 BBC News], the harpoons did, however, not fire as planned and the lander may have landed, bounced off, and landed again. This would explain the change in "Do harpoons work on comets" to "Don't know" at [[Media:???127.png|16:35]] and the change in "Have we landed on a comet?" to "Yes, at least once" at [[Media:???130.png|16:50]]. According to [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/13/science/space/european-space-agencys-spacecraft-lands-on-comets-surface.html?_r=0 The New York Times], radio contact with Philae fluctuated, which would explain the "Anxious", "Nervous", and "Confused" statuses around that time. In the end the lander did land and whereas the Do harpoons work status did not change, so did the have we landed on a comet which changed back to '''Yes''' at [[Media:???134.png|17:10]]. |
| − | The lander bounced three times and ended up in a place where the solar panels | + | The lander bounced three times and ended up in a place where the solar panels were mainly in the shadow. This resulted in the lander shutting down when its own battery ran out of power after only 2–3 days on the ground. This seemed sad, as there was only a small chance that the seasons on the comet would change so that the panels would later receive sun again. However, in the few hours that Philae had on the ground, it still managed to analyze the surface and obtain a lot of useful data - so that part of the mission was still a success already. This all happened after the comic stopped updating. |
On June 13, 2015, it was announced that signals had been received on earth indicating that Philae had awoken and that the solar panels were functioning. Ironically, had Philae landed in a place originally out of shadow, it would have already failed before this time (due to overheating), so it was actually fortunate that it landed as it did and would be able to operate during the time that the comet would be closer to the sun. To celebrate the lander's revival, Randall updated the comic, depicting the lander saying "Hi." on the comet's surface. | On June 13, 2015, it was announced that signals had been received on earth indicating that Philae had awoken and that the solar panels were functioning. Ironically, had Philae landed in a place originally out of shadow, it would have already failed before this time (due to overheating), so it was actually fortunate that it landed as it did and would be able to operate during the time that the comet would be closer to the sun. To celebrate the lander's revival, Randall updated the comic, depicting the lander saying "Hi." on the comet's surface. | ||
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There were however a few pictures with more than 5 minutes of delay (about 11 times five minutes without an update in total during the "live" transmission). The update seemed to have stopped after 137 pictures at 17:15 UTC, 12 hours and 15 minutes after the first picture. (The first picture has number 0, so the last had number 136). But later, sometime after 17:15 UTC, the counter for the last picture was increased to 142 (143 pictures in total), so maybe Randall inserted 6 extra pictures later - however he must then have changed the numbers on the pictures, since the last picture remained the same until mid-June, but with number 142 instead of 136. It is thus now difficult to find out which pictures would have been added later. However, eight pictures were not included in the original table with the [[#Frame by Frame Breakdown|Frame by Frame Breakdown]] below. So it must have been some of those missing pictures that were added later - maybe all of them, as the last three may already have been added before the last picture was released (All 143 pictures are included in the flip-book gif image shown here above). But even 143 pictures at 5 minutes intervals only spans 11 hours and 50 minutes, thus there are still five ''5 minute intervals'' without any picture. See which in the [[1446: Landing/Frame by Frame Breakdown|table]]. | There were however a few pictures with more than 5 minutes of delay (about 11 times five minutes without an update in total during the "live" transmission). The update seemed to have stopped after 137 pictures at 17:15 UTC, 12 hours and 15 minutes after the first picture. (The first picture has number 0, so the last had number 136). But later, sometime after 17:15 UTC, the counter for the last picture was increased to 142 (143 pictures in total), so maybe Randall inserted 6 extra pictures later - however he must then have changed the numbers on the pictures, since the last picture remained the same until mid-June, but with number 142 instead of 136. It is thus now difficult to find out which pictures would have been added later. However, eight pictures were not included in the original table with the [[#Frame by Frame Breakdown|Frame by Frame Breakdown]] below. So it must have been some of those missing pictures that were added later - maybe all of them, as the last three may already have been added before the last picture was released (All 143 pictures are included in the flip-book gif image shown here above). But even 143 pictures at 5 minutes intervals only spans 11 hours and 50 minutes, thus there are still five ''5 minute intervals'' without any picture. See which in the [[1446: Landing/Frame by Frame Breakdown|table]]. | ||
| − | ==Frame by Frame Breakdown== | + | The Rosetta space probe is shown in [[1621: Fixion]], which explains the {{w|Flyby anomaly}} experienced the first time (of three) the probe got close to Earth. |
| − | *Here is a [[1446: Landing/Frame by Frame Breakdown|link to a table]] with a frame by frame breakdown of all 143 pictures. | + | |
| + | ===Frame by Frame Breakdown=== | ||
| + | *Here is a [[1446: Landing/Frame by Frame Breakdown|link to a table]] with a frame-by-frame breakdown of all 143 pictures. | ||
*Here is a [[1446: Landing/All pictures|page with all the pictures]] frame by frame. | *Here is a [[1446: Landing/All pictures|page with all the pictures]] frame by frame. | ||
==Transcript== | ==Transcript== | ||
| − | :[This transcript gives only the text | + | :[This transcript gives only the text of the most [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/images/c/c7/%3F%3F%3F140.png recent picture] shown in the comic; that which is now shown when clicking to the comic on xkcd. This changed a few times after the live event ended.] |
| − | |||
:[Showing Philae on a comet.] | :[Showing Philae on a comet.] | ||
| − | : | + | :Time Since Landing: 211 days |
| − | + | :Philae: Hi! | |
| − | :Philae: | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
:[Status report at the bottom-right corner.] | :[Status report at the bottom-right corner.] | ||
:Status report: | :Status report: | ||
::Rosetta: In space | ::Rosetta: In space | ||
| − | ::Philae lander: | + | ::Philae lander: Hi! |
| − | ::Mission control: !!!!! | + | ::Mission control: '''!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!''' |
| − | + | ::Scientists: '''!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!''' | |
| − | + | ::Have we landed on a comet?: '''''YES.''''' | |
| − | ::Scientists: | + | ::Sun: Warm |
| − | + | ::Comet: Big | |
| − | + | ::Philae, where ''ARE'' you?: Home | |
| − | ::Have we landed on a comet?: '''YES''' | ||
| − | :: | ||
| − | :: | ||
| − | :: | ||
:[For the '''full transcript''' of all 143 pictures see '''[[1446: Landing/Transcript]]'''.] | :[For the '''full transcript''' of all 143 pictures see '''[[1446: Landing/Transcript]]'''.] | ||
| Line 70: | Line 65: | ||
*There appears to be a brief error between 02:35 and 02:45, where the time until lander separation is shown as 1 hour, counting down to 50 minutes, before being corrected to 75 minutes at 02:50. | *There appears to be a brief error between 02:35 and 02:45, where the time until lander separation is shown as 1 hour, counting down to 50 minutes, before being corrected to 75 minutes at 02:50. | ||
**Since this was supposed to be during the "non-live" section before Randall got up (and got live) it is not sure whether this was a "real" mistake, or if he was up anyway, and corrected this timing error when he discovered the plans had change during the approach flight. | **Since this was supposed to be during the "non-live" section before Randall got up (and got live) it is not sure whether this was a "real" mistake, or if he was up anyway, and corrected this timing error when he discovered the plans had change during the approach flight. | ||
| + | *Later after the initial release of this comic Randall added a link to this page. It's the first time this wiki is mentioned at xkcd itself and it's viewable in the HTML-source or here: [https://xkcd.com/1446/info.0.json https://xkcd.com/1446/info.0.json]. The text is: ''"A very thorough explanation of the comic is available here: http:\n\nwww.explainxkcd.com\nwiki\nindex.php\n1446:_Landing"''. | ||
{{comic discussion}} | {{comic discussion}} | ||
| + | |||
| + | [[Category:Comics with color]] | ||
[[Category:Dynamic comics]] | [[Category:Dynamic comics]] | ||
| − | |||
| − | |||
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | [[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]] | ||
| + | [[Category:Space probes]] | ||
| + | [[Category:Artificial Intelligence]] | ||
[[Category:Animals]] | [[Category:Animals]] | ||
| + | [[Category:Harpoons]] | ||
Revision as of 10:21, 19 January 2024
| Landing |
![[LIVE]](/wiki/index.php/File:landingAnimated.gif) Title text: [LIVE] |
- Frames of the comic started appearing November 12, 2014 and were being updated every five minutes. The collection of images creates a flip book that is displayed above.
Explanation
This comic changed over time during 12 hours and 15 minutes starting at 0:00 EST (when the comic normally is released) posting 143 pictures that tracked the progress of the Philae lander separating from the European Space Agency's Rosetta probe to land on comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko. More info can be found here: rosetta.esa.int.
The comic presents the imagined anthropomorphic "thoughts" of the Rosetta spacecraft and the Philae lander (and occasionally other parties) during the hours approaching separation from each other, approach to the comet and finally the apparently successful landing on the comet.
Beginning at 11:05, the comic includes a "Status Report" in the lower right corner which summarizes the status of various interested parties and accomplishments, beginning with "Rosetta", "Philae lander", "Mission Control", "Comet 67P", and "Have we landed on a comet?". As events occur in the comic, more status summaries are added to keep track of the changes to the situation and the supposed emotions behind them.
In many pictures a whale can be seen on the surface of the comet - often marked with a "?" as are almost all other parts of the unknown surface at this time. There is also drawn a Cueball on the surface also marked with a "?" Both are then at some point marked with a probably not - starting from 12:35. The whales are also mentioned in the "Status Report" where they for instance may be listed as "calm" or "(probably) not in space". At 16:00 the when the entire Earth goes AAAAAAAAAAA the whales are listed as saying this as well (along with Mission control and U.S. scientists). From this moment "Dolphins and fish" are also mentioned in the report. They are asking if it is the whales that scream. The reference to whales comes from the fact that Philae brought along two harpoons that should have been used to anchor it to the comet. On Earth, harpoons have mainly been used to hunt whales; Randall previously mentioned that comparison in 1402: Harpoons, suggesting that Philae was programmed to believe it was sent to kill the comet. It is Philae that "dreams" about whales on the surface of the comet which can be seen in the picture for 13:25 and in the status report.
Some Douglas Adams fans believe these whales and dolphins are references to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish. Whales in space have been appearing in fiction and art since the 1960s. However, with the above-mentioned reasons for whales, dolphins, and fish, this seems less and less likely.
At 15:25 Rosetta asks Philea about destroying and levitating rocks via mind control. This is a reference to the Ambition short movie, ESA commitioned to gather public awareness of the Rosetta mission.
Shortly after release from Rosetta (10:15), Philae calls out 'Spaaaaaaaaaace'; this mimics the Portal 2 'Space core' who, on finally reaching space in the last scenes, gives the same elated cry.
US Scientists presumably wake up at 7:40 EST (13:40 UTC) and in the report they now says "Bluuurghhh. What time is it?" to indicate their tiredness. This does not change until 10:25 EST (15:25 UTC) so they are slow to wake (2 hours 45 minutes). At this point, they becomes anxious as there are only 10 minutes to landing. This last until there is 15 minutes until news of landing (a reference to the 28 minutes time delays due to the huge distance to the comet). From then on (15:50) they and the mission control (MC) say "AAAAAAA". They stop this when the news should be there - the NOW (16:05) - and everybody holds their breath indicated by [...] - also MC. Finally (16:25) they and MC become proud (along with Earth) when Philae announces I got you a comet. It should have stopped there but as Philae bounced around, they then becomes anxious again 16:40, and then these changes to nervous 16:45 (switching those emotions with MC). And then suddenly (16:50) it is no longer US Scientists but just plain Scientists - that are nervous. It stays like this during the last few pictures, although they again become anxious, but when Philae announces I did it, they drink wine as indicated with "[wine]" in the report from the second to last picture (17:10).
Randall has written "A big thank-you to Emily Lakdawalla for help and advice on this comic" in the xkcd page header for Landing, revealing the possible source of his near real-time data.
At 16:20 the status report had announced a big Yes to the questions "Have we landed on a comet" and "Do harpoons work on comets". According to BBC News, the harpoons did, however, not fire as planned and the lander may have landed, bounced off, and landed again. This would explain the change in "Do harpoons work on comets" to "Don't know" at 16:35 and the change in "Have we landed on a comet?" to "Yes, at least once" at 16:50. According to The New York Times, radio contact with Philae fluctuated, which would explain the "Anxious", "Nervous", and "Confused" statuses around that time. In the end the lander did land and whereas the Do harpoons work status did not change, so did the have we landed on a comet which changed back to Yes at 17:10.
The lander bounced three times and ended up in a place where the solar panels were mainly in the shadow. This resulted in the lander shutting down when its own battery ran out of power after only 2–3 days on the ground. This seemed sad, as there was only a small chance that the seasons on the comet would change so that the panels would later receive sun again. However, in the few hours that Philae had on the ground, it still managed to analyze the surface and obtain a lot of useful data - so that part of the mission was still a success already. This all happened after the comic stopped updating.
On June 13, 2015, it was announced that signals had been received on earth indicating that Philae had awoken and that the solar panels were functioning. Ironically, had Philae landed in a place originally out of shadow, it would have already failed before this time (due to overheating), so it was actually fortunate that it landed as it did and would be able to operate during the time that the comet would be closer to the sun. To celebrate the lander's revival, Randall updated the comic, depicting the lander saying "Hi." on the comet's surface.
The comic title was originally "???" (probably to not give away too early what the comic was about), but changed to "Landing" when Randall came on live at five in the morning EST. At that moment the title text also changed from "..." to "[LIVE]". It was also then that the timestamps' timezone switch. At 5:00 AM (EST) the time stamp in the picture naming scheme switched from EST to UTC as used in ESA's time keeping, resulting in a jump from 04:55 to 10:00 without actually any such delay between the two pictures.
There were however a few pictures with more than 5 minutes of delay (about 11 times five minutes without an update in total during the "live" transmission). The update seemed to have stopped after 137 pictures at 17:15 UTC, 12 hours and 15 minutes after the first picture. (The first picture has number 0, so the last had number 136). But later, sometime after 17:15 UTC, the counter for the last picture was increased to 142 (143 pictures in total), so maybe Randall inserted 6 extra pictures later - however he must then have changed the numbers on the pictures, since the last picture remained the same until mid-June, but with number 142 instead of 136. It is thus now difficult to find out which pictures would have been added later. However, eight pictures were not included in the original table with the Frame by Frame Breakdown below. So it must have been some of those missing pictures that were added later - maybe all of them, as the last three may already have been added before the last picture was released (All 143 pictures are included in the flip-book gif image shown here above). But even 143 pictures at 5 minutes intervals only spans 11 hours and 50 minutes, thus there are still five 5 minute intervals without any picture. See which in the table.
The Rosetta space probe is shown in 1621: Fixion, which explains the Flyby anomaly experienced the first time (of three) the probe got close to Earth.
Frame by Frame Breakdown
- Here is a link to a table with a frame-by-frame breakdown of all 143 pictures.
- Here is a page with all the pictures frame by frame.
Transcript
- [This transcript gives only the text of the most recent picture shown in the comic; that which is now shown when clicking to the comic on xkcd. This changed a few times after the live event ended.]
- [Showing Philae on a comet.]
- Time Since Landing: 211 days
- Philae: Hi!
- [Status report at the bottom-right corner.]
- Status report:
- Rosetta: In space
- Philae lander: Hi!
- Mission control: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Scientists: !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
- Have we landed on a comet?: YES.
- Sun: Warm
- Comet: Big
- Philae, where ARE you?: Home
- [For the full transcript of all 143 pictures see 1446: Landing/Transcript.]
Trivia
- There appears to be a brief error between 02:35 and 02:45, where the time until lander separation is shown as 1 hour, counting down to 50 minutes, before being corrected to 75 minutes at 02:50.
- Since this was supposed to be during the "non-live" section before Randall got up (and got live) it is not sure whether this was a "real" mistake, or if he was up anyway, and corrected this timing error when he discovered the plans had change during the approach flight.
- Later after the initial release of this comic Randall added a link to this page. It's the first time this wiki is mentioned at xkcd itself and it's viewable in the HTML-source or here: https://xkcd.com/1446/info.0.json. The text is: "A very thorough explanation of the comic is available here: http:\n\nwww.explainxkcd.com\nwiki\nindex.php\n1446:_Landing".
add a comment! ⋅ add a topic (use sparingly)! ⋅ 
refresh comments!Discussion
In 2021 July comic was broken!((
I would bet money that this comic will have to do with the Rosetta Lander that will be landing on a comet for the first time in history this morning. Info about it at Rosetta.esa.int
108.162.237.173 05:37, 12 November 2014 (UTC)pH
- from xkcd1446.org: "Note: This event is over. You can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to browse through the images" 108.162.221.113 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
Almost definitely. The URL for the image (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-40-00_wmf0bPtxDN.png) contains 'landing'.
Love this comic108.162.241.196 22:33, 17 May 2018 (UTC)
DeedleFake (talk) 05:44, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
The image changes every five minutes. (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-35-00_lVC98SMY1X.png) followed by (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-40-00_wmf0bPtxDN.png) followed by (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-45-00_MZprhbADHL.png) then (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-50-00_Z63bWhoaxd.png) (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-55-00_2wCeCFN0R1.png) (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_01-00-00_FRnIhqA5IZ.png) (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_01-05-00_Os6SVGalch.png) (http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_01-10-00_xn4nUL9lry.png) http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_01-15-00_soIuPGfUYh.png , also I'm sorry about deleting other people's comments - firefox decided to not show the "other people have edited this" page :(. If anyone's interested, here's the command I'm using to grab the urls:
while :; do http --stream --body http://c0.xkcd.com/stream/comic/landing\?method\=EventSource | awk '/png/ { print $2 }' | perl -ne '/(r_.+png)/; print "$1\n";' ; done
where the 'http' command is from http://httpie.org - not the neatest way to do it, but it works ;) Forkbomb (talk) 05:47, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Forkbomb, you are not supposed to delete other's comments... Yes. It is definitely about Rosetta. The image changed at 9.35 pm PST and it says "Three hours to separation", i.e. 12.35am PST, which is exactly the time at which PHILAE is going to separate... image_seen rosetta timeline
199.27.128.237 05:50, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Is anyone collecting URLs? I assume there's an easy automated way to do this that was used for Time. If not...
LONG LIST OF URLs HIDDEN. CLICK EXPAND OVER THERE →
Randall switched to SSL after 1:30 but you can of course use either server.
- Marcustyphoon/108.162.219.244 07:37, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
(http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_00-45-00_MZprhbADHL.png) "Has anyone ever tried this before?" "No but fetishes have to start somewhere, right?" Nexxuz (talk)
Probably just a mistake, but the transcript in the html source of 1446 is from 1445. --Pascal (talk) 05:58, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
It fetches things using this javascript tag.. <script type="text/javascript" src="/s/c3b919.js"></script> I've pasted it in pastebin, can we get zealous and fetch the images before they actually show up ? :P link_to_javascript 199.27.128.237 06:04, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
By the way, the current explanation says it's pinging c4.xkcd for updates. From the javascript source, it looks like there's more than one server for this: var SERVERS = ["http://c0.xkcd.com", "http://c1.xkcd.com", "http://c2.xkcd.com", "http://c3.xkcd.com", "http://c4.xkcd.com", "http://c5.xkcd.com", "http://c6.xkcd.com", "http://c7.xkcd.com"]; So that would be c0 to c7
Unfortuantely, as I had suggested, it seems that we cannot grab all the images beforehand :( The javascript only fetches a json, which actually gives image name. So there's a server side script running which generates the paths to actual images. The javascript just shows it.. You can see the json here. 199.27.128.237 06:23, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Attempting to load the URL directly in Firefox results in unreadable results, but it's something like
id: acae0462-6a34-11e4-8001-002590720087
event: comic/landing
data: {"image":"r_01-25-00_ADajYkIBoR.png","spread":1}
There are several other events as well, such as 'reload' and 'heartbeat'. DeedleFake (talk) 06:32, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
By the way, that UUID (i.e. acae0462-6a34-11e4-8001-002590720087) seems to encode the time the image was uploaded as a v1 UUID. Maths22 (talk) 06:58, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
The best part of this is ninja-ing the image uploads. The xkcd servers seem to be off atomic time by around 45 seconds. Skylarmt (talk) 06:45, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
What are people's thoughts on changing the image label to an image number? It seems redundant to use the timestamp twice, but I copied it over from time. Davidy²²[talk] 07:06, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
A lovely explanation. Itaigreif (talk) 07:45, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Why is the comic titled "???" and not "Rosetta" or something? Smperron (talk) 08:02, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- "Rosetta" would have given the game away in the first few minutes before we could figure it out. "???" is a strange choice, though. 103.22.201.157 09:20, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
The page has changed name from "???" to "Landing" about 5AM, and title text changed from "..." to "[LIVE]". Not sure about actual times, and don't know how to rename page. Can someone else handle this? 141.101.89.217 10:12, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
At 00:03:50 the comic mentions turning on CONCERT, which I think is a typo and should be CONSERT --Pudder (talk) 10:56, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- I think this is a typo Randall made on purpose. SirKitKat (talk) 15:45, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- Welp - if it's a joke or other reference, it's lost on me - do you have an explanation for what it could mean if intentional? -- Brettpeirce (talk) 19:15, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Keep uploading the images under the current naming convention, guys, I'll do a batch move to "landing[X]" later when things die down a little. Davidy²²[talk] 11:02, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- Check out http://xkcd1446.org/list.json. E.g. http://xkcd1446.org/img/r_11-30-00_DEpbhsl54D.png. 141.101.105.189 11:54, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Shouldn't we write up the changing "Time until landing: [x] hours" top text in the transcripts as well? Phantom (talk) 12:39, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Oh no, not again! Petunia 12:45, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- What? What's happening? -- Bowl (talk) 19:20, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- Hurling towards the ground, with all of these stupid whales around... well, "hurling" would have been better actually, so it could all end quicker. Instead, it is tens of thousands of times slower than last time. And instead of splatting, the whales are bouncing... they seem to be enjoying this. Petunia 08:07, 13 November 2014 (UTC)
In the transcript, added or changed text should be in bold for easy reading? also, this format reads a lot easier then the transcript. - sir KitKat - 141.101.64.137 12:57, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- I think so. After adding 'Status Report' it's even harder to read it. Graphene (talk) 13:01, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- I'm not sure... the purpose of the transcript is not to make it easier for those too lazy to compare the images and find what changed between them, but just to represent what the images contain for those that can not see them... preferably as accurately as possible, i.e. with the original formatting. 141.101.93.206 13:10, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- I'd agree with the transcript not containing formatting that changes - especially since that formatting may confuse (or be confused with) the formatting used for emphasis in the comic itself - perhaps we could have a separated "changes" version of the transcript on another page? -- Brettpeirce (talk) 17:34, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- Maybe the transcript should move to a subpage to avoid clutter? And can we add a section for the lazy people to follow the changes without going through every image? SirKitKat (talk) 15:18, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- By the way, the bold changed stuff helped me notice some subtle changes :) SirKitKat (talk) 15:27, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Did anyone notice that not all whales disappeared at 13:30? One is hidden behind the mountains in the background with a "? ->" pointing at it. I wonder if this should be included in the transcript... Elektrizikekswerk (talk) 14:28, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- It should be in a transcript. I missed it while editing. My apologies for that. Graphene (talk) 15:28, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
I did just notice that clicking on the image now takes you to http://xkcd1446.org/. 141.101.104.4 16:23, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
LONG LIST OF URLs HIDDEN. CLICK EXPAND OVER THERE →
Where is Randall getting his info? His news is the most current I can find - anyone have a good link to up-to-the-minute status reporting like Randall is providing, preferably with more detail? --Nipchee (talk) 18:08, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- Nipchee: This seems to be very up-to-date: http://www.theguardian.com/science/across-the-universe/live/2014/nov/12/rosetta-comet-landing-live-blog 108.162.219.150 18:11, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- This one is pretty good: https://newscientist.creatavist.com/rosetta#chapter-132425 (scroll to bottom)
- Also, here is the list of feeds from ESA: http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Operations/Live_updates_Rosetta_mission_comet_landing GreenWyvern (talk) 18:26, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- I could imagine that, combining his influence as a web celebrity and connections he's maintained since working with NASA, he might be able to get a few extra details before everyone else (?) -- Brettpeirce (talk) 19:06, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
On a related note - what exactly is the distinction between "impact" and "landing" other than the perhaps intent? Is the result factored in as well? Where is the threshold between the two? -- Brettpeirce (talk) 19:10, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
I'd say it's more to do with the level of control. An impact is when an object forcibly hits something else, a landing is when it's directed and doesn't result in 10 years of wasted effort and money. --141.101.104.15 20:27, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Okay, looks like the comic is done, unless he picks it up again after radio contact resumes. -- Frankie (talk) 21:35, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
- from xkcd1446.org: "Note: This event is over. You can use the arrow keys on your keyboard to browse through the images" 108.162.221.113 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
p.s. The vertical sprawl here (particularly in the Frame by Frame section) is really ugly. It should be subdivided and/or columnized like in 1190: Time. -- Frankie (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
- I doubt it's over yet. Also, it's actually a bit annoying to do multiple columns of homogenous data a la time, and those were done post-hoc. Subdivision and collapsing is a thing that could happen though. Davidy²²[talk] 22:59, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Did anyone notice 16-05 and 16-10 are missing from xkcd1446.org? Saibot84 21:41, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
Why does it jump from 55 minutes to 75 minutes at image #33? Keavon (talk) 22:50, 12 November 2014 (UTC)
I love the GIF, good work, but is there any way it could be slowed down about 1/4 to 1/2 a second longer for a few frames, espicaly while the lander is landing. It is hard to catch all the jokes. Not all Frames need to be the same speed. 108.162.216.209 13:40, 13 November 2014 (UTC)
Not convinced there's any special reference to Hitchhiker's here. People seem to believe that "space whale art" was popular in the 1970s, and we know there were space whales in fiction long before the Guide, at least in Robert F. Young's series of stories published in genre magazines like F&SF and If starting in 1962, and in Pinocchio in Outer Space, an animated feature film from 1965. Pesthouse (talk) 23:09, 13 November 2014 (UTC)
- Might also be a reference to the second episode of "Futurama" — title: "The Series Has Landed". In that episode there is an amusement park on the moon with animated robots dressed as whalers (which is itself a parody of Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean" attraction) singing "We're whalers on the moon; we carry a harpoon; but there ain't no whales so we tell tall tales; and sing our whaling tune."108.162.216.94 09:35, 14 November 2014 (UTC)
"Since the event is over, and the images don't show the rebounds, we can guess that Randall made all or most of the drawings before the landing." - I disagree with this statement. Between 16:35 and 16:55 you can clearly see Philae settle (stop moving), jostle, and settle again. You may have to watch the GIF closely to notice it. Smperron (talk) 04:36, 14 November 2014 (UTC)
All plain URLs:
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See The whale and the petunias. I wanted to include the picture but it's not licensed. --Thnidu (talk) 21:43, 15 November 2014 (UTC)
The image on the comic updated to [1], there may be more missing frames. 188.114.98.207 16:29, 18 November 2014 (UTC)
And now getting smaller! [2]
108.162.219.164 18:05, 20 November 2014 (UTC)
Did randall made a mistake with the "US Scientists" and fixed it to just plain "Scientists" when someone warned him about the mission being from European Scientists ? --173.245.52.108 23:42, 25 November 2014 (UTC)
It appears to be over, and is now (forever?) blank [3]. --199.27.128.182 20:08, 26 November 2014 (UTC)
These were not logged here at the wiki. Check the xkcd forum for release details.
https://sslimgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_148_MLFkxqV4Dy.png https://sslimgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_149_CQkN74U21V.png https://sslimgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_150_LhNsD4qM0F.png https://sslimgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_151_T9etbD9OH6.png
Azule (talk) 21:01, 1 December 2014 (UTC)
The image was updated! Now there is world thinking about Philae 108.162.229.91 21:34, 11 December 2014 (UTC)
There is a new image over at http://xkcd.com/1446/ !!! "Time since landing: 211 days" Philae says hi! https://twitter.com/ESA_Rosetta 162.158.80.59 13:36, 14 June 2015 (UTC)
![[1]](https://sslimgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_149_CQkN74U21V.png){kind=link}
![[2]](https://sslimgs.xkcd.com/comics/landing/r_151_T9etbD9OH6.png){kind=link}
![[3]](http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/%3F%3F%3F.png){kind=link}